At 10,582 square kilometres, the Bolivian salt flats – otherwise known as Salar de Uyuni – are the largest on the planet and contain between 50 and 70% of the world’s lithium reserves. After exploring Chile and Argentina, photographer Joel Santos decided to travel to Bolivia in January 2017 to check the salt flats off his bucket list. With an electrical storm rolling in, Joel and his two travelling companions were the only souls left on the vast flats and captured the eerie flats without a person in sight. (Photo by Joel Santos/Barcroft Images)

Fisherman Jose Miguel Perez, whose nickname is “Taliban”, navigates the oil infested waters of Lake Maracaibo, near Cabimas, Venezuela, May 21, 2019. Nobody lives as closely with the environmental fallout of Venezuela's collapsing oil industry as the fishermen who scratch out an existence on the blackened, sticky shores of Lake Maracaibo. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

A general view of atmosphere at the annual VOLT Festival in Sopron, 208 kms west of Budapest, Hungary on June 26, 2017. (Photo by Mudra László/Rockstar Photographers)

An air plane takes off from the airport as air traffic is effected by the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Frankfurt, Germany, March 16, 2020. (Photo by Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

Lydia Hassebroek, 10, uses a magnifying glass to light a leaf on fire in her backyard during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., May 17, 2020. (Photo by Caitlin Ochs/Reuters)

Five-year-old sniffing dog “Vine” wears protection goggles against the sun and dust as he poses together with Giulia Gausemann for photographers, at the sniffing dogs school of the German Army (Bundeswehr) in Daun, Germany, July 24, 2020. The Bundeswehr sniffing dogs school and the veterinarian university of Hanover are developing a training programme to sniff out the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) with dogs at airports, border crossings and other highly frequented places. (Photo by Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters)

Two displaced Tigrayan girls giggle next to their mother, left, as their photograph is taken outside the Hadnet General Secondary School which has become a makeshift home to thousands displaced by the conflict, in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia Wednesday, May 5, 2021. The Tigray conflict has displaced more than 1 million people, the International Organization for Migration reported in April, and the numbers continue to rise. (Photo by Ben Curtis/AP Photo)

New York Jets running back La'Mical Perine fends off an airborne exercise ball thrown at him as he carries the ball during NFL football practice, Wednesday, June 2, 2021, in Florham Park, N.J. (Photo by Kathy Willens/AP Photo)