Anglers in Venezuela have been raking up oil spills and collecting plastic waste from Lake Maracaibo to try to save the lake that sustains their livelihoods.
President Nicolás Maduro has ordered the implementation of a “rescue, attention and decontamination” plan for the 13,000 sq km lake, one of South America’s largest and one of the oldest in the world. Years of inadequate waste management and neglect of oil industrial infrastructure have polluted the lake, which harbours two-thirds of the country’s oil reserves – and production is expected to increase.