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Countries Appendix VENEZUELA (49.9%) Venezuela is home one of the world's largest rivers, the Orinoco, and a large area of unsettled rainforest. However, Venezuela is also home to extensive oil deposits (the largest proven deposits outside of the Middle East), the pursuit of which have often been environmentally damaging. There is future promise for the forests of Venezuela with the creation of several national parks. In 1991, the government established the 83,000 square kilometer Biosphere Reserve of the Upper Orinoco-Casiquiare. In the creation of the park, the government recognized the rights of local indigenous peoples and also provides stricter environmental controls over exploitation of the area. Unfortunately in 1996, the government divided the Amazon State of Venezuela into electoral municipalities which takes control away from the indigenous peoples and threatens the forest with exploitation. Mining, both legal and illegal, proves to be a problem in Venezuela, causing deforestation and pollution. Venezuela's output, from mining and oil production, of pollutants per capita is among the highest in Latin America. The government does work to oust illegal miners that come over from Brazil from Indian reserves. In 1997, the government granted more than half of the 8.6 million acre (3.4 million ha) Imataca Reserve as concessions to large scale mining. Nearly 600 firms have applied for concessions to exploit the reserve's estimated $113 billion in gold. In 1974 the president nationalized the oil companies destroying the presence of foreign companies including Shell, Exxon, and Texon. In 1996, Venezuela again began to grant oil concessions, but the companies who were burned in '74 were wary. Low oil prices in 1998 devastated the Venezuelan economy. This combined with overall weakness in the economy and heavy deficit spending has resulted in a 13,340% devaluation of the national currency, the Bolivar, since 1993. High interest rates have forced businesses to reduce borrowing, while the still overvalued currency has made Venezuelan exports uncompetitive in world markets. The outskirts of Caracas are miles of crowded slums that pollute the river below. The foothills around Caracas were once covered by extensive cloud forests but now it is all gone. The Caracas valley was once a beautiful paradise, but now it has been paved. Perhaps the greatest of ecological disasters in Venezuela is the Guri hydroelectric project, the second largest of its kind in the world, which was completed in the early 1980s. The project flooded a massive area of Venezuela's forest. Now the reservoir created by the dam is being silted up by run off from deforested hills and reducing the project's efficiency. The leading company's solution is divert the rivers of the Amazonas province into the huge lake, although fortunately this will probably not pass. However there is a controversial plan to construct high tension power cables from Guri through Cainama national park to Roraima in northern Brazil. 35-40% of Venezuela's land is regulated, 29% as part of some one hundred national parks. However many of the protected areas have been protected since they were deforested long ago, while other park areas are disregarded. In Cainama national park, one of the largest, is plagued with a host of problems with illegal miners and rangers are unable to patrol the vast area. In August 1997, the mining company, Placer Dome, began work on a gold mine projected to account for 10% of the world output right next to the park. The cyanide and sulfuric acid produced in the mining process are expected to have a negative impact on the park. Canaima National Park is also threatened by a plan to run powerlines through the park from the Guri hydroelectric project. The creation of these parks have caused some conflicts between indigenous peoples, people who lived in the area before they were proclaimed national park, and the park commission. Now that national parks are attracting tourist dollars, the park commissions and foreign firms are trying to shut down the smaller, Indian run corporations. Logging concessions in Venezuela's rainforests are escalating in part due to the government's effort to diversify its economy to escape the doldrums of the world oil glut. Reportedly, anywhere from 3-13 million hectares of forest have been granted in the past few years. The World Resources Institute reports that logging in Venezuela is heavily subsidized, but the timber sector is largely underdeveloped). Venezuela has the third highest deforestation rate in South America at 1.1%. . . . . . For current information I highly recommend trying the CIA and FAO links below. CIA-World Factbook Profile FAO-Forestry Profile |
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