Cochabamba – The Inter Campus programme has been active in the Bolivian capital since 2008 in cooperation with Fundación Casari, involving around 150 boys and girls from the Ticti Norte neighbourhood. Over the last two years, a regular programme of remote activities has been provided for the children. Among the various distance-learning activities, we highlight the pedagogical project Reconnecting with your Culture, promoted by the International Research Center with the support of UNESCO; meanwhile, activities on the football pitch have continued intermittently due to restrictions aimed at containing the pandemic. The next monitoring mission by the coaches who regularly travel from Italy to Bolivia and the 30 countries where the project is active is scheduled for May.
Bolivia is among the poorest countries in South America, especially regarding the indigenous portion of the population. A third of the population lives on less than two dollars per day. The Bolivian territory is highly diversified: near the Andes, there is a vast, arid plateau at an altitude of 3,500 metres; in contrast, a lowland area rich in rivers stretches across the east of the country, with Andean valleys in between connecting these two very different ecosystems.
While it may be one of the poorest countries in the world, it is also one of the richest…
The white desert of Salar de Uyuni is located on the Bolivian plateau. It is so large that it is visible from the Moon. Hidden within the ground of this salt desert are the largest lithium deposits in the world. For centuries, humanity did not exploit this metal: lithium remained beneath the earth’s crust as if it were useless waste. Today, however, engineers all over the world are working to design electric vehicles. Soon the automobile industry will need millions of batteries. Lithium has become a treasure of immeasurable value. Who will extract it? And who will profit from this metal? Where the batteries will be disposed of is another question we will one day have to answer.
Bolivia could soon become the Saudi Arabia of lithium. The great future challenge will be to modernize the mining industry and ensure the training of new generations, prioritizing environmental sustainability, the recycling of raw materials, and territorial security.