ABSTRACT
Identification and prioritization of specific environmental issues varies widely around Latin America. The issues basic to defining and describing Latin American environmental problems, shared with the rest of the developing world, include the relationship of economic development to so-called sustainable development. Among the causes of deforestation in Latin America as a whole are, in order of importance, conversion of land use for agriculture, logging on a commercial scale, firewood gathering, and cattle raising. Degrees of urbanization do not differentiate Latin American countries from the United States. Five Latin American countries are more than 81 percent urbanized: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, and Venezuela. While issues of rain forest loss in Brazilian Amazonia are by relatively well-known, environmental problems of western Amazonia, specifically Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, and Venezuela, have been less visible until quite recently. The majority have involved the negative impacts of oil exploration and extraction on the environment of indigenous peoples and on indigenous peoples themselves.
