Inside the Afar Triangle in Ethiopia’s Danakil desert, camel caravans are used to carry salt. For centuries, the essential mineral has been mined by the Afar people, known for their ability to withstand extremes. The terrain is rugged, travelers are scarce and so are motor vehicles, where the average annual temperature is the highest in the world, and can rise to 122 degrees Fahrenheit, 50 degrees Celsius. (Photo by Ziv Koren/Polaris)

A truck carrying iron ore moves along a road at the Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) Christmas Creek iron ore mine located south of Port Hedland in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, November 17, 2015. (Photo by Jim Regan/Reuters)

A gold prospector is detained by agents of Brazil’s environmental agency on the Uraricoera River during an operation against illegal gold mining on indigenous land, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, in Roraima state, Brazil April 15, 2016. At over 9.5 million hectares, the Yanomami territory is twice the size of Switzerland and home to around 27,000 indians. The land has legally belonged to the Yanomami since 1992, but illegal miners continue to plague the area, sawing down trees and poisoning rivers with mercury in their lust for gold. (Photo by Bruno Kelly/Reuters)

A member of a feminist group performs during a rally to celebrate International Women's Day in Santiago, Chile, March 8, 2021. (Photo by Ivan Alvarado/Reuters)

An Israeli 155mm self-propelled howitzer, loaded on a trailer, arrives at a position along the Israel-Gaza border on May 13, 2021. Israel deployed additional troops to Gaza's border as the military conflict with Palestinian Islamists raged on, while inside Israel security forces scrambled to contain deadly riots between Jews and Arabs. (Photo by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP Photo)

Smoke and flames rise following an Israeli air strike on Gaza City, 18 May 2021. Tensions have escalated in the region, following days of violent confrontations between Israeli security forces and Palestinians in Jerusalem, leading to the heaviest offensive in years. (Photo by Mohammed Saber/EPA/EFE)

A tourist take a photograph of a sulphur lake in the Danakil Depression on January 23, 2017 near Dallol, Ethiopia. The depression lies 100 metres below sea level and is one of the hottest and most inhospitable places on Earth. Despite the gruelling conditions, Ethiopians continue a centuries old industry of mining salt from the ground by hand in temperatures that average 34.5 degrees centigrade but have risen to over 50 degrees. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

This November 11, 2014 aerial photo, shows a deforested area dotted with blue tarps, marking the area where miners reside, and craters filled with water, caused by illegal gold mining activities, in La Pampa, in Peru's Madre de Dios region. Less than a month before Peru plays host to global climate talks, the government sent a battalion of police into southeastern jungles to dismantle illegal gold-mining mining camps. Peru's anti-illegal mining czar, retired army Gen. Augusto Soto, marched the men to the wasteland known as La Pampa, where 50,000 hectares of rainforest have been obliterated in the past six years. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)