When he talks about the environment in Latin America, the eyes of FitoSalume light up. A successful businessman, Adolfo SalumeArtinano has dedicated many years and a good deal of money to environmental campaigns. His companies are working towards zero-carbon technologies, but there’s more to be done. This is why Salume has created three not-for-profit organizations that are actively involved in environmental issues. Here are the main challenges they’re faced with.
Latin America is home to nearly 60 to 70% of the known natural species. Like all the other regions of the world, Latin America is vulnerable to the effects of climate change and natural disasters.
A unique region, a treasure to be preserved
Latin America has 1/3 of the world’s freshwater reserves. Water resources are therefore an enormous wealth for the region. Water abounds in rivers such as the Amazon, which is the largest river: it travels 6,800 km between Peru and Brazil.
The region is also teeming with high mountains and glaciers such as the Andes Cordillera, the highest mountain in Latin America. But due to global warming and rising temperatures, ski resorts are disappearing. In the Andes, for example, glaciers have lost more than 40% of their area over the past 40 years.
Also in northern Chile you can find the driest desert in the world, the Atacama Desert, rich in mineral resources such as copper, salt, gold, lithium, silver and iron.
Raw materials: an asset or a trap for the economy?
The continent’s economic boom in the twentieth century was fostered by the massive exploitation of the raw materials available in the region. The sale of these resources initially made it possible to reduce poverty and a large part of the continent’s countries experienced social progress.
However, many governments have not paid attention to developing other sectors to, which makes their economies fragile in the global economy: if the prices of raw materials fall sharply, the crisis is assured. Thus, monoproduction very often turns into a curse for the economy
Water pollution: an environmental scourge
In some areas, the level of mercury, a heavy and toxic metal, in water is impressive and worrying. This pollution is mainly due to untreated industrial discharges in waterways. Fish ingest this water, which can contaminate those who eat them: animals and humans.
This phenomenon is especially alarming in Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Argentina.
Clean-up methods are often too expensive for these countries.
Nature and the natives: a permanent conflict
The stake of the indigenous tribes who revere nature and live there is enormous: the 45 million indigenous people who live in Latin America first consider nature as a sacred being rather than a source of wealth, it is their Mother Earth. Nature is a cultural and spiritual element, many indigenous people have retained their traditional way of life and rituals.
These tribes have become very vulnerable and are exposed to the grabbing of their land for the exploitation of natural resources. They are seldom consulted, because the resources present in the subsoil fall under the competence of the state.
When the governments don’t do much, it is the job of people like Adolfo Salume to find solutions to Latin America’s environmental problems. Check out Ant Infestation Control evansville in to know more.