Bronze in Nature/Earth / 2025 / Nature / Earth

• Prize
  Bronze in Nature/Earth
• Photographer
  Liz Miller Kovacs, Germany

‘Laguna Escondida’ is a natural saltwater pool in the expansive Salar de Atacama, Chile. It is in an environmentally protected national park on the same plateau as the vast Chilean lithium mines. The pools here used to be much larger, and the water levels are currently at record lows. These lagunas have shrunken drastically in recent years due to climate change and water usage from lithium mining in the region. The Chilean government and mining corporations have initiated a plan to reduce water use by 50 percent by 2030, but critics demand they implement more immediate and drastic measures.