365 Days of Climate Awareness 249 – Introduction to South America

The continent of South America sits in the western hemisphere and straddles the Equator, though it is mostly to the south. It is comprised of twelve countries, two of which, Bolivia and Paraguay, are landlocked. It covers 17,840,000 km²/6,890,000 mi², and has a population of over 423 million, roughly 5% of the world’s population. As with many other regions on earth, the bulk of the continent’s population lives near the coast, with the inland populated comparatively sparsely.

Physical Map

The west coast is an active tectonic margin, with the Pacific plate diving beneath the continent, creating the volcanic Andes Mountains along most of its length. The east coast by contrast is a passive margin, descending more smoothly into the Atlantic with the nearest oceanic ridge more than a thousand miles away. The north coast is more active tectonically, with smaller plates in the Caribbean creating volcanoes and earthquake activity on a regular basis.

Köppen-Geiger climate zones 1980-2016

More than one half of South America is tropical and dominated by rain forest in the northern and central regions, with temperate and cooler climates further south and at higher elevations. The margin between South and Central America is the boundary between Colombia and Panama. Although plant growth is lush throughout most of the continent, deserts occur in the central west along the coasts of southern Peru and northern Chile, and east of the Andes in Argentina.

Economically South America is less dependent on exports than other continents, both of raw materials and finished goods. Oil is a major product of Brazil (10^th leading producer globally, 28 million b/d), Venezuela (21^st leading producer, 877,000 b/d), Colombia (22^nd, 866,000 b/d), and Ecuador (28^th, 531,000 b/d). Though Brazil is one of the world’s major economies, and  the country is quite industrialized, its government and economy continue to struggle and most of South America is classified as developing. For this reason they tend to pursue aggressive programs of economic development with little regard to environmental cost.

Tomorrow: climate issues facing South America.

Be brave, and be well.