| Geography and Climate |
Bolivia is a landlocked country, located in Central South America, southwest of Brazil. Climate varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid. Terrain consists of rugged Andes Mountains with a highland plateau (Altiplano), hills and lowland plains of the Amazon Basin. The elevation extreme has lowest point in Rio Paraguay 90 m and highest point in Cerro Illimani 6,882 m. Natural resources are tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber.
Land use: arable land: 2%, permanent crops: 0%, permanent pastures: 24%, forests and woodland: 53%, other: 21% (1993 est.). Natural hazards are cold, thin air of high plateau is obstacle to efficient fuel combustion, as well as to physical activity by those unaccustomed to it from birth; flooding in the northeast (March-April).
Environment—current issues: 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; industrial pollution of water supplies used for drinking and irrigation
Geography—note: landlocked; shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake (elevation 3,805 m), with Peru.
Ref. Anonymous, 1999 |