The early signs of climate change are starting to show all over the world. The snowfall in the barren Saudi Arabia, and now that Bolivia's second largest lake, Poopó, has all but dried up, threatening the livelihood of fishing communities and spelling ecological disaster for hundreds of species.

The Bolivian government is blaming dry weather spurred by El Niño and a changing climate, but that's not the whole story.

the lake has shrunk to just two percent of its former size, which was approximately 380 square miles (1,000 square kilometers), or about twice the size of Los Angeles. 

Misuse of the water supply and a failure on the part of the Bolivian government to act on existing management plans are partly responsible for the rapid drying of the lake over the past few years,

Poopó is high, at 12,000 feet (3,680 meters), and the area has warmed an estimated one degree Celsius over the past century, leading to an increase in the rate of evaporation from the lake. And the lack of rain over the past year has sped the process even further.

Lake Poopó gets most of its water from the Desaguadero River which has plenty of water. It?s just that officials aren't opening control gates often enough to send water down the river. Some of the water is being diverted for agriculture and mining. And even when water is available, the river is often clogged with sedimentation, due to the runoff from development and mining in the area.

Some scientists have suggested that recovery may not be possible, although there are hopes that the basin is likely to fill again once rains return. Still, there are important lessons to be learned.

Lots of other lakes around the world are similarly threatened by major development programs or mismanagement and if the trend were to continue, more of these incidents are expected to occur.

SOurce:

 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/01/160121-lake-poopo-bolivia-dried-out-el-nino-climate-change-water/

PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID MERCADO, REUTERS