Restoring the Uru Uru Lake: The power of Indigenous communities against environmental colonialism

The Uru Uru Team was born to restore the Uru Uru Lake in central western Bolivia through nature-based solutions. Our work hones in building floating rafts by recycling the plastic bottles we find in the Lake thrown as rubbish. We put our powerful native aquatic plants called Totoras on top of the floating rafts. Totoras are native aquatic plants from our community; they do the phytoremediation process in the Uru Uru Lake, absorbing the heavy minerals of its polluted waters. We have been placing the Totoras and implementing different sustainable actions, having our community involved and leading our pacific protests to urge our authorities for efficient actions, asking to stop mining activities, building our community garden, and organizing dialogues to strengthen the Uru Uru Team’s mission. Our goal as a group community is to restore and remedy our Uru Uru Lake through nature-based solutions based on respect, care, and harmony with Mother Earth.