Oscar Limachi, 48, a member of the local Qewaya community who works as a tour guide on Lake Titicaca, poses for a photograph in Qewaya village, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia, July 3, 2018. Lake Titicaca, an icy azure body of water between Bolivia and Peru...more
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Thursday, September 05, 2019
Oscar Limachi, 48, a member of the local Qewaya community who works as a tour guide on Lake Titicaca, poses for a photograph in Qewaya village, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia, July 3, 2018. Lake Titicaca, an icy azure body of water between Bolivia and Peru once considered an Andean deity, and the traditional communities who call it home are under threat from climate change, pollution, tourism and urban sprawl. Limachi says that waste from El Alto and a lack of understanding about pollution risk changing the habitat forever. "It is also our fault, people throw garbage and plastic everywhere, they don't understand this is polluting," he says, adding that many plant varieties in the lake had already vanished. "Fish used to live, eat and lay their eggs amongst these plants. Now there are no plants, so no fish," he says. "We are afraid that someday the fish will disappear or migrate forever." REUTERS/Manuel Seoane
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