Browsing by Autor "Manuel Olivera Andrade"

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Black carbon emission and transport mechanisms to the free troposphere at the La Paz/El Alto (Bolivia) metropolitan area based on the Day of Census (2012)
(European Organization for Nuclear Research, 2018) A. Wiedensohler; Manuel Olivera Andrade; Kay Weinhold; Thomas Müller; W. Birmili; Fernando Velarde; Isabel Moreno; Ricardo Forno; Maria Fernanda Sanchez Barrero; Paolo Laj
Urban development, growing industrialization, and increasing demand for mobility have led to elevated levels of air pollution in many large cities in Latin America, where air quality standards and WHO guidelines are frequently exceeded. The conurbation of the metropolitan area of La Paz/El Alto is one of the fastest growing urban settlements in South America with the particularity of being located in a very complex terrain at a high altitude. As many large cities or metropolitan areas, the metropolitan area of La Paz/El Alto and the Altiplano region are facing air quality deterioration. Long-term measurement data of the equivalent black carbon (eBC) mass concentrations and particle number size distributions (PNSD) from the Global Atmosphere Watch Observatory Chacaltaya (CHC; 5240m a.s.l., above sea level) indicated a systematic transport of particle matter from the metropolitan area of La Paz/El Alto to this high altitude station and subsequently to the lower free troposphere. To better understand the sources and the transport mechanisms, we conducted eBC and PNSDs measurements during an intensive campaign at two locations in the urban area of La Paz/El Alto from September to November 2012. While the airport of El Alto site (4040m a.s.l.) can be seen as representative of the urban and Altiplano background, the road site located in Central La Paz (3590m a.s.l.) is representative for heavy traffic-dominated conditions. Peaks of eBC mass concentrations up to 5 μgm−3 were observed at the El Alto background site in the early morning and evening, while minimum values were detected in the early afternoon, mainly due to thermal convection and change of the planetary boundary layer height. The traffic-related eBC mass concentrations at the road site reached maximum values of 10–20 μgm−3. A complete traffic ban on the specific Bolivian Day of Census (November 21, 2012) led to a decrease of eBC below 1 μgm−3 at the road site for the entire day. Compared to the day before and after, particle number concentrations decreased by a factor between 5 and 25 over the particle size range from 10 to 800 nm, while the submicrometer particle mass concentration dropped by approximately 80%. These results indicate that traffic is the dominating source of BC and particulate air pollution in the metropolitan area of La Paz/El Alto. In general, the diurnal cycle of eBC mass concentration at the Chacaltaya observatory is anti-correlated to the observations at the El Alto background site. This pattern indicates that the traffic-related particulate matter, including BC, is transported to higher altitudes with the developing of the boundary layer during daytime. The metropolitan area of La Paz/El Alto seems to be a significant source for BC of the regional lower free troposphere. From there, BC can be transported over long distances and exert impact on climate and composition of remote southern hemisphere.
Mining indigenous territories: Consensus, tensions and ambivalences in the Salar de Atacama
(Elsevier BV, 2022) Mauricio Lorca; Manuel Olivera Andrade; Melisa Escosteguy; Jonas Köppel; Morgan Scoville-Simonds; Marc Hufty
Lithium mining in Chile's Salar de Atacama (SdA) has a relatively long and controversial history, especially when it comes to the local Indigenous peoples. In this context, this paper looks at the ways mining activities, and different visions of territory and indigeneity co-produce each other in the particular context of the SdA. For this, we use historical and ethnographic methods and draw on studies in anthropology and geography. We aim to escape simplistic images of Indigenous peoples’ reactions to mining as reflecting victimhood, resistance, or strategic pragmatism, and show instead how individuals and groups organize and express themselves in ambivalent ways, maintaining complex relationships with both mining and the territory. According to our local interlocutors, struggles around territory in the SdA mainly concern water scarcity, the survival of this unique ecosystem's biological diversity, as well as continuity and change in local lifeways. While recent agreements between mining companies and local communities may benefit some individuals, they are also generating inter- and intra- community tensions over these issues. We find that mining shapes what 'indigenous' means and who can claim this identity, while Indigenous mobilization in turn shapes how mining is perceived and carried out. Together, mining and Indigenous mobilization produce a particular kind of territory, pervaded by diverse lines of both consensus and tension. Rather than contradictions, the ambivalent positions Indigenous peoples maintain become comprehensible when considering, ethnographically and historically, the particular places and lifeworlds they inhabit, and the asymmetrical patterns of constraint and opportunity they face. More broadly, the paper raises questions about the implications of a global transition to renewable energy based on lithium battery technologies, and ethical responses to the climate crisis.
“Se instaló el diablo en el Salar”
(2023) Mauricio Lorca; Manuel Olivera Andrade; Ingrid Garcés
The capital and mining that has been in the Antofagasta region since the late 19th century brought profound social and environmental transformation. The deep-rooted process finds continuity and expansion in today’s lithium mining of the Atacama salt flats (Salar de Atacama). The ethnic dimension of collective action in this territory since the 1990s has redefined intercultural relations. In the second decade of this century, mining companies and Atacameño organizations agreed to direct money transfers as compensation for the negative impacts of mining operations, especially on the water balance. The communities’ negotiation and territorial management strategies have raised strong questioning within and among Atacameño organizations, shifting the traditional communities vs. companies conflict to within the indigenous organizations. This article describes this new stage of Atacameño organization and mobilization.