Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela is a country in northern South America, bordering the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean in the north, Colombia in the west, Guyana in the southeast, and Brazil to the south.
Its major environmental issues:
- include sewage pollution of Lago de Valencia;
- oil and urban pollution of Lago de Maracaibo;
- deforestation;
- soil degradation;
- overfishing;
- urban and industrial pollution, especially along the Caribbean coast; and,
- the threat to the rainforest ecosystem from irresponsible mining operations.
 |
 |
Venezuela was one of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others being Ecuador and New Granada, which became Colombia). For most of the first half of the 20th century, Venezuela was ruled by generally benevolent military strongmen, who promoted the oil industry and allowed for some social reforms. Democratically elected governments have held sway since 1959. Hugo Chavez, president since 1999, seeks to implement his "21st Century Socialism," which purports to alleviate social ills while at the same time attacking globalization and undermining regional stability. Current concerns include: a weakening of democratic institutions, political polarization, a politicized military, drug-related violence along the Colombian border, increasing internal drug consumption, overdependence on the petroleum industry with its price fluctuations, and irresponsible mining operations that are endangering the rainforest and indigenous peoples.
Geography
Geographic Coordinates: 8 00 N, 66 00 W
Area: 912,050 sq km (882,050 sq km of land, 30,000 sq km of water)
Land Boundaries: 4993 km. Border countries are Brazil (2,200 km), Colombia (2050 km), and Guyana (743 km).
Coastline: 2,800 km
Maritime Claims: Territorial sea to 12 nautical miles, contiguous zone to 15 nautical miles, exclusive economic zone to 200 nautical miles, and continental shelf to 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation.
Natural Hazards: Subject to floods, rockslides, mudslides; periodic droughts
Land use: Arable land: 2.85%, permanent crops: 0.88%, other: 96.27% (2005)
Environment current issues: Sewage pollution of Lago de Valencia; oil and urban pollution of Lago de Maracaibo; deforestation; soil degradation; urban and industrial pollution, especially along the Caribbean coast; threat to the rainforest ecosystem from irresponsible mining operations
Terrain: Andes Mountains and Maracaibo Lowlands in northwest; central plains (llanos); Guiana Highlands in southeast. Highest point is Pico Bolivar (La Columna) at 5007 m.
Climate: Tropical; hot, humid; more moderate in highlands.
Capital: Caracas (3.051 million) (2009)
Other Major Cities: Maracaibo 2.153 million; Valencia 1.738 million; Barquisimeto 1.159 million; Maracay 1.04 million (2009)
Ecology and Biodiversity
A rich ecological and diverse region, the Tropical Andes starts in western Venezuela. The Orinoco Delta swamp forests are located along the coastal floodplains of the Orinoco Delta in northwestern Venezuela. Occuring in patches around the Orinoco Delta are the Orinoco wetlands. Along Venezuela's coast is one of the most pristine and structurally complex mangrove forests ecoregions in the Americas, the Coastal Venezuelan mangroves. The Guianan mangroves, another structurally complex mangrove ecosystem, pass along the country's southeastern coastline. Venezuela is also home to a number of diverse terrestrial ecoregions:
- Araya and Paria xeric scrub
- Apure-Villavicencio dry forests
- Catatumbo moist forests
- Cordillera La Costa montane forests
- Cordillera Oriental montane forests
- Guajira-Barranquilla xeric scrub
- Guayanan Highlands moist forests
- Guyanan savanna
- Guianan moist forests
- Japurá-Solimoes-Negro moist forests
- La Costa xeric shrublands
- Lara-Falcón dry forests
- Llanos
- Maracaibo dry forests
- Negro-Branco moist forests
- Paraguana xeric scrub
- Rio Negro campinarana
- Tepuis
- Venezuelan Andes montane forests
International Environmental Agreements
Venezuela is party to Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, and Wetlands.
Protected Areas
See main article: Protected areas of Venezuela
The immense Canaima National Park on the southeastern Venezuelan border with Guyana and Brazil is a spectacular plateau landscape studded with table mountains. Streams cascade from the cliff tops, one of them being the world’s highest waterfall. The flora and fauna of the summits is of considerable richness and high endemism which form a unique archipelago of isolated but related ecosystems.
People and Society
Population: 27,635,743 (July 2011 est.)
Age Structure:
Population Growth Rate: 1.493% (2011 est.)
Birthrate: 20.92 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Death Rate: 5.1 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Net Migration Rate: -0.42 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Life Expectancy at Birth: 73.61 years (2009 est.)
Total Fertility Rate: 2.48 children born/woman (2009 est.)
Languages: Spanish (official), numerous indigenous dialects
Literacy: 93% (2001 census)
Urbanized population: 93% of total population (2010)
Energy
High world oil prices have helped fuel Venezuela’s recovery, as the petroleum industry is the mainstay of the country’s economy. The oil sector accounts for more than three-quarters of total Venezuelan export revenues, about half of total government revenues, and about one-third of total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The Orinoco Heavy Oil Belt in Venezuela is one of the world’s largest accumulations of natural bitumen and heavy oil. The Orinoco Heavy Oil Belt (or Faja del Orinoco) is located in the southern part of the Eastern Venezuelan Basin, to the north of the Orinoco River. It covers an area of 54,000 km2 in the Monagas, Anzoategui, and Guarico states. As of January 2008 Venezuela reported 87.04 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and 4.708 trillion cubic meters of proven natural gas reserves.
See Energy profile of Venezuela
International Conflict
Venezuela claims all of the area west of the Essequibo River in Guyana, preventing any discussion of a maritime boundary. Guyana has expressed its intention to join Barbados in asserting claims before the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that Trinidad and Tobago's maritime boundary with Venezuela extends into their waters. Venezuela also has a dispute with Colombia over maritime boundary and Venezuelan-administered Los Monjes islands near the Gulf of Venezuela. Colombian-organized illegal narcotics and paramilitary activities penetrate Venezuela's shared border region and in 2006, an estimated 139,000 Colombians sought protection in 150 communities along the border in Venezuela. The United States, France, and the Netherlands recognize Venezuela's granting full effect to Aves Island, thereby claiming a Venezuelan EEZ/continental shelf extending over a large portion of the eastern Caribbean Sea; Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines protest Venezuela's full effect claim.
Economy
Venezuela remains highly dependent on oil revenues, which account for roughly 95% of export earnings, about 55% of the federal budget revenues, and around 30% of GDP. A nationwide strike between December 2002 and February 2003 had far-reaching economic consequences - real GDP declined by around 9% in 2002 and 8% in 2003 - but economic output recovered strongly through 2008. Fueled by high oil prices, record government spending helped to boost GDP by about 10% in 2006, 8% in 2007, and nearly 5% in 2008, before a sharp drop in oil prices caused a contraction in 2009-10. This spending, combined with recent minimum wage hikes and improved access to domestic credit, created a consumption boom which came at the cost of higher inflation - roughly 32% in 2008, and slowing only slightly to 30% in 2010, despite the lengthy downturn. Imports also jumped significantly before the recession of 2009. President Hugo Chavez's continued efforts to increase the government's control of the economy by nationalizing firms in the agribusiness, financial, construction, oil, and steel sectors have hurt the private investment environment, reduced productive capacity, and slowed non-petroleum exports. In the first half of 2010 Venezuela faced the prospect of lengthy nationwide blackouts when its main hydroelectric power plant - which provides more than 35% of the country's electricity - nearly shut down. In May, 2010, Chavez closed the unofficial foreign exchange market - the "parallel" market - in an effort to stem inflation and slow the currency's depreciation. In June 2010, the government created the "Transaction System for Foreign Currency Denominated Securities" (SITME) to replace the "parallel" market. In December 2010,Chavez eliminated the dual exchange rate system and unified the exchange rate at 4.3 bolivars per dollar. In January 2011, Chavez announced the second devaluation of the bolivar within twelve months. In December 2010, the National Assembly passed a package of five organic laws designed to complete the transformation of the Venezuelan economy in line with CHAVEZ's vision of 21st century socialism. These laws likely will be implemented in 2011. Venezuela began 2011 wrestling with macroeconomic imbalances resulting from the government's unorthodox economic policies, a housing crisis, and a continuing electricity crisis.
GDP: (Purchasing Power Parity): $345.2 billion (2010 est.)
GDP (Official Exchange Rate): $290.7 billion (2010 est.)
GDP- per capita (PPP): $12,700 (2010 est.)
GDP- composition by sector:
Industries: petroleum, construction materials, food processing, textiles; iron ore mining, steel, aluminum; motor vehicle assembly
Natural Resources: petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, gold, bauxite, other minerals, hydropower, diamonds
Agricultural products: corn, sorghum, sugarcane, rice, bananas, vegetables, coffee; beef, pork, milk, eggs; fish
Currency: Bolivar
Further Reading
Return to the Latin America and the Caribbean Collection
Citation
World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, Central Intelligence Agency (Lead Author);CIA World Factbook (Content Source);Peter Saundry (Topic Editor) "Venezuela". 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 May 31, 2010; Last revised Date January 1, 2012; Retrieved February 9, 2012 <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Venezuela>
The Authors
Known worldwide by its panda logo, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) leads international efforts to protect endangered species and their habitats. Now in its fifth decade, WWF works in more than 100 countries around the globe to conserve the diversity of life on Earth. With nearly 1.2 million members in the U.S. and another 4 million worldwide, WWF is the world's largest privately financed conservation organization. WWF directs its conservation efforts toward three global goals: 1) saving endangered ... (Full Bio)
A U.S.-based, international organization, Conservation International (CI) is a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
CI applies innovations in science, economics, policy and community participation to protect the Earth's richest regions of plant and animal diversity in the biodiversity hotspots, high-biodiversity wilderness areas as well as important marine regions around the globe. With headquarters in Washington, D.C., CI works in more than 40 ... (Full Bio)
The Central Intelligence Agency was created in 1947 with the signing of the National Security Act by President Harry S. Truman. The act also created a Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) to serve as head of the United States intelligence community; act as the principal adviser to the President for intelligence matters related to the national security; and serve as head of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 amended the National Securit ... (Full Bio)
Contact Us
Send to a Friend
Comments
Posted by Sandra Thomas on October 7, 2010 1:26 am
The main attraction in Venezuela is its beaches which are known for its enchanting beauty. The island is a school for a myriad of species of underwater creatures and fishes. You can see a large number of mangrove trees standing there. I should say that is one place which is the most romantic.
http://www.southamericavoyage.net/beaches-in-venezuela.html