Ignorance as permission in lithium extraction from the high-Andean salt flats of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile

Abstract

The accelerated global energy transition, centered on the imperative of decarbonization and the massive electrification of the economy, has structurally intensified extractive pressure on strategic peripheral territories. In the high-Andean salt flats of the so-called Lithium Triangle, the expansion of brine mining to supply battery demand is reconfiguring the hydrogeological balance of highly fragile endorheic basins, generating a material paradox: global climate mitigation is sustained by localized processes of water alteration and territorial reorganization. In this context, this article proposes the category of "green accumulation through climate legitimation" (GACL) to problematize how hegemonic discourses on climate security, crystallized in institutional reports on global energy governance, justify and normalize extractive intensification and the consequent water dispossession in the Andean Global South. Using a theoretical-qualitative methodology, the study combines critical discourse analysis (CDA) of strategic documents on critical minerals with a systematic review of hydrogeological evidence and specialized literature on neo-extractivism and Latin American political ecology, integrating the textual dimension, discursive practice, and social practice into a unified analytical matrix. The results demonstrate three structural shifts: the transition from climate governance focused on mitigation to the securitization of strategic mineral supply; the transformation of localized water impact into a mechanism of systemic dispossession that redistributes biophysical burdens on a transnational scale; and the mutation of emissions reduction into an entropic externalization compatible with the reproduction of the imperial mode of living. It is concluded that the normative and political viability of the contemporary climate regime becomes precarious when its operationalization requires the consolidation of green sacrifice zones; consequently, it is imperative to redefine transition metrics to integrate socio-ecological conflict and question the hyper-consumerist metabolism underlying the current decarbonization architecture.