What we can learn from exploring the links between environmental damage caused by Big Tech and water protest movements in Latin America.

Data centres are expanded rapidly in Latin America in regions hit by drought and water shortages. Grace Livingstone has reported extensively from Latin America on the environmental impact of data centres, lithium and copper mining, paper-pulping, pesticide exports and agro-industries such as soya. She will talk about the environmental damage caused by Big Tech and other multinational companies in Latin America, and the water protest movements that have emerged to protect local people's rights. We will explore the links between the push for growth in the UK and the impact of this on countries such as Uruguay and Chile.

Following Grace's talk, there will be opportunities for questions and discussion.

Grace Livingstone is a journalist and academic, specialising in Latin American affairs. She regularly reports for the BBC and The Guardian from Latin America, covering environmental, social and human rights issues. She has also reported for The Observer, The Independent on Sunday and her writing has appeared in the New Statesman, the Times Literary Supplement and London Review of Books.She is also an affiliated lecturer at the Centre of Latin American Studies, University of Cambridge. She is the author of four books. www.grace.livingstone.com (http://www.grace.livingstone.com/)

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