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The snow-covered peaks of Chacaltaya Mountain tower over the Bolivian capital, La Paz, rising 17,800 feet above sea level. The Chacaltaya glacier is more than 18,000 years old, and its meltwater is an important resource for the inhabitants of La Paz. In the last 20 years, however, the glacier has shrunk 80 percent in volume. With temperatures expected to continue to rise, the glacier could eventually disappear completely.
Fresh water from the Paran· and Uruguay rivers collides with salt water from the South Atlantic Ocean in the muddy estuary of RÌo de la Plata. The estuary keeps the surrounding land rich and fertile and provides a natural habitat for a number of threatened species, including the rare La Plata dolphin. Changes in climate may lead to flooding of the coastal area.
This commercial center of northeastern Brazil is also a prime destination for tourists, who come for the pleasant weather and white beaches. Due to its dense coastal development, Recife—like Rio de Janeiro and Buenos
Aires—is highly vulnerable to rising sea levels, hurricanes, and storm surges. The degradation of its coral reefs could also expose the city to flooding.
It’s an awe-inspiring sight: massive ice fields and blue-white glaciers span 27 square miles of the Cordillera Oriental mountain range. The Quelccaya Ice Cap, the largest body of ice in the tropics, feeds the streams and rivers of the valleys below. It has lost 20 percent of its surface area since 1978 and could disappear entirely by the end of the century.
Such hotels now appear in different countries around the world. But the Salt Hotel is the only hotel in the world built completely out of salt (salt bricks, salt roof, salt floor, etc.). It is located on the east coast of the famous Salt Flats in Bolivia.
