Bolivia
Bolivia
La Paz
Bolivia Is a landlocked nation of ten million people in South America, southwest of Brazil and bordering 
Argentina and Paraguay in the south, and Chile and Peru in the west.
Bolivia shares control of Lake Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake (elevation 3,805 metres), with Peru.
It is is one of two land-locked countries in South America; the other being Paraguay.
Its major environmental issues include:
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- the clearing of land for agricultural purposes and the international demand for tropical timber are contributing to deforestation;
- soil erosion from overgrazing and poor cultivation methods (including slash-and-burn agriculture);
- desertification;
- loss of biodiversity; and,
- industrial pollution of water supplies used for drinking and irrigation.
Bolivia, named after independence fighter Simon Bolivar, broke away from Spanish rule in 1825.
Much of its subsequent history has consisted of a series of nearly 200 coups and countercoups.
Democratic civilian rule was established in 1982, but leaders have faced difficult problems of deep-seated poverty, social unrest, and illegal drug production.
In December 2005, Bolivians elected Movement Toward Socialism leader Evo Morales president - by the widest margin of any leader since the restoration of civilian rule in 1982 - after he ran on a promise to change the country's traditional political class and empower the nation's poor, indigenous majority. However, since taking office, his controversial strategies have exacerbated racial and economic tensions between the Amerindian populations of the Andean west and the non-indigenous communities of the eastern lowlands.
In December 2009, President Morales easily won reelection, and his party took control of the legislative branch of the government, which will allow him to continue his process of change.
Geography
Location: Central South America, southwest of Brazil
Geographic Coordinates: 17 00 S, 65 00 W
Area: 1,098,580 km2 (1,084,390 km2 land and 14,190 km2 water)
arable land: 2.78%
permanent crops: 0.19%
other: 97.03% (2005)
Land Boundaries: 6,940 km - border countries: Argentina 832 km, Brazil 3,423 km, Chile 860 km, Paraguay 750 km, Peru 1,075 km
Chile and Peru rebuff Bolivia's reactivated claim to restore the Atacama corridor, ceded to Chile in 1884, but Chile offers instead unrestricted but not sovereign maritime access through Chile for Bolivian natural gas.
Coastline: None
Maritime Claims: None
Natural Hazards: Flooding in the northeast (March-April)
Terrain: Rugged Andes Mountains with a highland plateau (Altiplano), hills, lowland plains of the Amazon Basin. The lowest point is Rio Paraguay (90 metres) and the highest point is Nevado Sajama (6,542 metres).
Climate: Varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid.
Topography of Bolivia. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Normally obscured by clouds, Bolivia is amazingly clear in this true-color MODIS image acquired June 20, 2002. Bounded by Brazil to the north and west, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, and Peru and Chile to the east, Bolivia is completely landlocked. A good portion of Bolivia is dominated by the Andes, but it also lays claim to lush forests and pasture lands in the Amazon Basin.Bolivia's agricultural crops include soybeans, coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes, and timber. A number of agricultural plots are visible in central Bolivia. Some large plots are arranged in a circular star shape, with water sources at the center and the agricultural plots radiating outwards. Adjacent to them (down and to the right) are more traditional shaped plots (more rectangular).One of Bolivia's main exports is tropical timber. Visible in this image are areas where the timber has been harvested. The deforestation patterns tend to follow major roads first, then smaller roads adjoining main roads. These patterns resemble the growth of ice crystals and are best viewed in the higher resolutions of this image. Deforestation is visible along the green edge of the Andes in central Bolivia. Source: NASA. Credit: Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC
Biodiversity and Ecology
The richest and most diverse region on Earth, the Tropical Andes spans 1,542,644 km2, from western Venezuela to northern Chile and Argentina, and includes large portions of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. The Cerrado spreads across 2,031,990 km2 of the central Brazilian Plateau. The second largest of Brazil's major biomes, after Amazonia, the hotspot accounts for a full 21 percent of the country's land area (it also extends marginally into Paraguay and Bolivia). The most extensive woodland/savanna region in South America, the Cerrado is also the only hotspot that consists largely of savanna, woodland/savanna and dry forest ecosystems.
Government
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Government Type: Republic; note - the new constitution defines Bolivia as a "Social Unitarian State" Capital: La Paz - 1.642 million (2009) Other Major Cities: Santa Cruz 1.584 million; Sucre 281,000 (2009) Administrative divisions: 9 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento);
Independence Date: 6 August 1825 (from Spain) Legal System: civil law system with influences from Roman, Spanish, canon (religious), French, and indigenous law. Bolivia has not submitted an International Court of Justice (ICJ) jurisdiction declaration; but accepts International criminal court (ICCt) jurisdiction. |
Source: Wikimedia Commons |
International Environmental Agreements
Bolivia is party to international agreements on Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, and Wetlands.
High in the Andes Mountains of South America, Lake Titicaca straddles Peru (upper left) and Bolivia. This MODIS true-color image from November 4, 2001, highlights the diverse landforms of the region. In the La Paz region of Bolivia, the Andes are still snow-covered ; some of the peaks hold snow year round. Chile (at left along the coast of the Pacific Ocean) presents a barren-looking landscape, but some green is evident in the high-resolution image, especially around rivers. The large white areas are large salt flats and seasonal salt lakes.
Lake Titicaca is an important research site for studies of previous climate episodes during Earth's history. The highest of Earth's large lakes, it sits at an altitude of 12,500 ft. on the Altiplano, a high plateau, and the lake bed is deep with sediment layers that can tell a story about climate that reaches back hundreds of thousands-possibility even millions -- of years. Source: NASA. Credit: Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC
People and Society
Population: 10,118,683 (July 2011 est.)
Ethnic groups: Quechua 30%, mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry) 30%, Aymara 25%, white 15%
Age Structure: Median age: 21.9 years
0-14 years: 34.6% (male 1,785,453/female 1,719,173)
15-64 years: 60.7% (male 3,014,419/female 3,129,942)
65 years and over: 4.6% (male 207,792/female 261,904) (2011 est.)
Population Growth Rate: 1.694% (2011 est.)
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| Lake Titicaca from Bolivian side. Source: Wikimedia Commons |
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| Dalí desert in Potosí Department, Bolivia. Source: DeFries/Flikr |
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| The Altiplano, an area of high plateau in the Andes, is visible in the foreground with the peaks of the Cordillera Real in the background. Source: Karan Gulaya/Wikimedia Commons |
Birthrate: 24.71 births/1,000 population (2011 est.)
Death Rate: 6.85 deaths/1,000 population (July 2011 est.)
Net Migration Rate: -0.92 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2011 est.)
Life Expectancy at Birth: 67.57 years (2011 est.)
Total Fertility Rate: 3 children born/woman (2011 est.)
Languages: Spanish 60.7% (official), Quechua 21.2% (official), Aymara 14.6% (official), foreign languages 2.4%, other 1.2% (2001 census)
Literacy: 86.7%
Urbanization: 67% of total population (2010) growing at an annual rate of change of 2.2% (2010-15 est.)
Economy
Bolivia is one of the poorest and least developed countries in Latin America.
Following a disastrous economic crisis during the early 1980s, reforms spurred private investment, stimulated economic growth, and cut poverty rates in the 1990s.
The period 2003-05 was characterized by political instability, racial tensions, and violent protests against plans - subsequently abandoned - to export Bolivia's newly discovered natural gas reserves to large northern hemisphere markets.
In 2005, the government passed a controversial hydrocarbons law that imposed significantly higher royalties and required foreign firms then operating under risk-sharing contracts to surrender all production to the state energy company in exchange for a predetermined service fee.
The global recession slowed growth, but Bolivia recorded the highest growth rate in South America during 2009.
During 2010-11 increases in world commodity prices resulted in large trade surpluses.
However, a lack of foreign investment in the key sectors of mining and hydrocarbons and higher food prices pose challenges for the Bolivian economy.
GDP: (Purchasing Power Parity): $51.41 billion (2011 est.)
GDP-real growth rate: $23.9 billion (2011 est.)
GDP- per capita (PPP): $4,800 (2011 est.)
GDP- composition by sector:
agriculture: 12%
industry: 38%
services: 50% (2010 est.)
Industries: Mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing
Natural Resources: tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower
Currency: Bolivianos (BOB)
Citation
World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, Central Intelligence Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administra (Lead Author);CIA World Factbook (Content Source);Juan Pablo Arce, Peter Saundry (Topic Editor) "Bolivia". In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth October 21, 2009; Last revised Date February 1, 2012; Retrieved February 9, 2012 <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Bolivia>
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