NATURAL RESOURCES OF AMERICA (NORTH AND SOUTH) - ENVIRONMENT - 2025

The most important natural resources of America are water resources, agriculture, livestock, forestry, aquaculture, hydrocarbons and minerals. America is a continent isolated from the other continents, its surface area is 42,262,142 km2. Its limits are: the Arctic glacial ocean to the north, the Atlantic to the east, the Antarctic glacial to the south and the Pacific to the west.

It is composed of two subcontinents (North America and South America), which remained separated for millions of years until occupying their current positions and joining together forming the Isthmus of Panama at the end of the Tertiary Era, about 3 million years ago.

The North American territory begins within the Arctic Circle and its extreme limit in the south is the Suchiate River, which marks part of the border between Mexico and Guatemala. Its coastlines extend along the Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

The territory of South America extends from the Panama Canal to the Drake Pass in Argentina. Among its relief, the Andes mountain range stands out, which extends throughout the western part, the great plateaus in Brazil and the wide plains that form pampas in Argentina and Uruguay.

Water resources

The main lakes in North America are Lake Superior, which is the largest lake in the world with a surface area of ​​82,500 km ^2. Others are Lake Huron (59,250 km ²), Lake Erie (25,700 km ²), Lake Ontario (19,500 km ²) and Lake Michigan 57,750 km².

In South America, the lakes are not that large compared to those found in the north of the continent. The largest lake is Lake Maracaibo, in Venezuela (13,820 km ²⁾, followed by Lake Cocibolca in Nicaragua and Lake Titicaca in the Andes Mountains between Bolivia and Peru. The latter has the peculiarity of being the highest lake in the world with cargo ship traffic.

The Mississippi River is one of the most important rivers in the world, the largest in North America. It is born in Lake Itaska in the North of the United States and empties into the Gulf of Mexico. It has an area of ​​3,770 km ², and is fed to the west by the Missouri River, which is born in the Rockies and to the east by the Ohio River.

In South America the Amazon River is the most important. It is born from the Andes mountain range and is the largest in the world, containing about a fifth of the planet's fresh water. It crosses the territories of Peru, Colombia and Brazil, with a length of 7062 km.

The Paraná, Paraguay, Uruguay and Rio de la Plata rivers form the La Plata basin, one of the most important hydrological basins on the continent, which includes part of the territory of Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay and Argentina.

We also find large swamps on the continent as in the Pantanal region in the South American scepter between the countries of Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, and the Envergadles in Florida in North America.

These large swamps act as important reservoirs of continental water, in addition to hosting a large number of species of aquatic flora and fauna of America.

Agriculture in North America

The US and Canada were the world's second and fifth largest exporters of agricultural products in 2015 (CAES, 2016).

In 2007, 51% of the US territory was used for agriculture. The main products were corn, cotton, wheat, citrus fruits, melons, nuts, rice, soybeans, sugar, potatoes and tomatoes, among others (USDA, 2015).

In 2011, the total agricultural land was 64.8 million hectares, 7% of its territory, and its agricultural activities contributed to 6.6% of the country's GDP in 2014 (CAES, 2016).

In Mexico 26.9 million hectares are used for agriculture. The main agri-food products exported in 2016 were Avocado (50.8% of the world), Tomato (21.5% of the world) and fresh berries (9.6% of the world) (SAGARPA, 2016).

The countries that contribute the most to Central American agricultural exports are Costa Rica and Guatemala. In 1996, Central America's GDP was just over 30 million dollars and its exports were 8 million dollars, 68% of its total exports.

The main products harvested were rice, beans, corn, sorghum, cotton, banana, cocoa, coffee, flowers and foliage, and sugar cane (Arce, et. Al., 1999).

Agriculture in South America

The main crops in South America are: wheat, rice, oilseeds and coarse grains.

During the last two decades, South America significantly increased its participation in world food trade, due to the performance of Brazil and Argentina, countries that managed to take advantage of the impressive increase in demand for soybeans, mainly from China.

Peru is the center of origin of two crops of great cultural importance; potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) and beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) (Garzón, 2016). While Paraguay is the center of origin for species such as cassava (Manihot esculenta), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), groundnut (Arachis hypogaea), and pineapple (Ananas comosus) (CBD, 2003).

Livestock in North America

The main products Canada produces from the livestock system are red meat (about $ 15.1 billion). Also dairy products -6.1 billion dollars- and eggs and poultry -2.3 billion dollars-. Another important product is pork (CAES, 2016).

Earnings from ranching in the United States are 100 billion per year. The main products it exports are cattle, meat, dairy products, pork, poultry and eggs, wool, sheep, pigs and lamb meat (USDA, 2015).

Mexico allocates 109.8 million hectares for livestock. At present there are hatcheries for birds, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and hives (SAGARPA, 2016). In addition, it ranks third in the world for honey exports (SAGARPA, 2016).

Livestock in South America

The main farms in South America are for cattle, pigs, sheep, beekeeping and dairy products. With Brazil being the main exporter of poultry meat in the world and Chile the second exporter of pork in Latin America (FAO, 2013).

Harvesting wildlife in North America

Mexico and the States are very diverse countries. Mexico ranks third in the countries with the most mammals, second in reptiles and fifth in amphibians (Biodiversidad Mexicana, 2013).

Canada and the United States have the reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) as one of the species in hunting ranches, other species such as elk (Cervus canadensis) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) or cervidae (Mazama spp.), Among others (Chardonet, et. Al., 2002).

In Mexico, many animals are used for sport hunting. The most common species are: white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), wild boar (Pecari tajacu), Rana forreri (Lithobates forreri), Asiatic Zenaida (White-winged dove), coyote (Canis latrans), Mourning pigeon (Zenaida macroura), California quail (Callipepla californica), gray hare (Lepus callotis), American coot (Fulica americana), Florida rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus), among many others (Biodiversidad Mexicana, 2012).

Use of fauna in South America

In Venezuela they breed the capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) and the caiman (Caiman crocodilus) in large ranches, which are exported (Chardonnet, et. Al., 2002).

In Costa Rica they raise the green iguana for the consumption of their meat, skin production, as pets and tourism (Chardonnet, et. Al., 2002).

The ranches of Psittacidae are the scarlet macaw (Ara macao) or the Amazon parrots (Amazona spp.). They are also of commercial value in countries such as Argentina and Costa Rica (Chardonnet, et. Al., 2002).

Other species reared are the chinchilla (Chinchilla laniger), the otter (Myocastor coypu), Amazonian turtles (Podocnemis expansa), tepezcuintle (Cuniculus paca) (Chardonnet, et. Al., 2002), among many others.

Protected areas

In 2006 North America had 360 million hectares of protected areas, of which more than 70% were in the United States (United Nations, 2008c; FAO, 2009).

In Canada there is the Gros Morne National Park; in the USA, the Everglades National Parks and the Grand Canyon; in Mexico the ancient Mayan city, the tropical forest of Calakmul, the islands and protected areas of the Gulf of California (IUCN, 2016).

In Central American countries such as Belize there is the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System and in Costa Rica the La Amistad National Park. Finally, in Panama, the Coiba National Park and a special maritime protection zone (IUCN, 2016).

In South America the main Protected Areas are: In Argentina the Iguazu National Park, in Brazil the Chapada dos Veadeiros Protected Area and the Emas and Iguacu National Parks and in Ecuador the Galapagos Islands (IUCN, 2016).

Forest use

According to FAO (2010), North America has 705 million hectares of forest area, 33% of its total area. North America is the world's leading producer, consumer and exporter of wood products.

In 2006, Canada and the United States produced about 1.5 million and 1 million tons of wood pellets, respectively, and thus ranked second and third behind Sweden (FAO, 2009).

The production of the few economically important Non-Timber Forest Products with well established markets, mainly in the United States and Canada, is maple syrup and Christmas trees, both highly traded (FAO, 2009).

In Mexico there are 30 representative species commercialized in the formal market, highlighting the following: the camedor palm (Chamaedorea elegans), wild mushrooms (Tricholoma magnivelare) and pine resin (Pinus leiophylla, P. oocarpa, P. pseudostrobus) (López, et. al., 2005; Marshall, et. al., (2006); Sosa-Montes, et. al., 2013), among others.

According to the FAO, these are the most representative non-timber forest products in Central America: in Belize, chicle (Manilkara zapota) and in Costa Rica, medicinal plants (Caesalpinia pulcherrima, Cupressus lusitánica, Equisetum bogotense, among others), In El Salvador the medicinal plants (Myroxylon balsamum var. Pereirae, Polypodium aureum, Cassia fistula, among others), in Guatemala the xate for florists (Chamadorea spp.) And in Honduras the medicinal plants (Quassia amara, Fevillea cordifolia, Smilax spp.., among other), In Nicaragua, handicrafts (Cardulovica palmata, Pinus oocarpa, Attalea butyracea, among others) and finally in Panama are mostly used for medicinal uses (Equisetum bogotense, Lippia alba, Cymbopogon citratus, among others) (Robles - Valle, et. Al., 2004).

Aquaculture

In 2013, US aquaculture production was 1.37 billion. Fish for food consumption, ornamentals, mollusks, crustaceans and some reptiles such as crocodiles and turtles stand out (USDA, 2015).

In Mexico, 11 thousand km of coastline are destined for fishing, in addition to 120 thousand hectares for aquaculture. In 2016, 1.3 million tons were caught and 361 thousand tons of species were raised. Shrimp is the aquaculture export product that stands out with 1.8% of the world total (SAGARPA, 2016).

Meanwhile, in South America, aquaculture production in 2010 harvested 602,000 tons of freshwater fish and 503,000 tons of crustaceans, with 314,000 tons of mollusks (FAO, 2013).

Hydrocarbons and minerals

On the continent there are two important areas of oil reserves, one is located in Venezuela where 18% of the world's oil reserves are found, and a production of 999,400 barrels / day.

The second area is in Canada, this country has the third place in oil reserves in the world, only surpassed by Saudi Arabia and Venezuela (CIA, 2015).

However, Canadian oil is dissolved in bitumen sands. Its extraction is more expensive and much less profitable compared to conventional oil extraction. It also involves open pit mining to separate the sands from crude oil, causing serious damage to the ecosystem.

With regard to minerals, we find that in North America, the United States is the eighth largest uranium producer in the world and the first in the American continent. Mexico is the main silver producer and together with Peru they produce about 40% of the planet's silver.

Among the mining countries in South America we find Brazil, which for many years has been the world's leading gold producer (Malm, 1998), and Chile, which is the world's leading copper producer (Sturla & Illanes, 2014).

References

1. (2009). North America. Retrieved January 4, 2017 from FAO website: fao.org.
2. (2010). Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 Main Report. Retrieved on January 4, 2017 from FAO website: fao.org.
3. (2012). Management units for the conservation of wildlife. Retrieved on January 5 from Biodiversidad Mexicana website: biodiversity.gob.mx.
4. (2013). Prospects for agriculture and rural development in the Americas: A look at Latin America and the Caribbean. Retrieved on January 5, 2017 from FAO website: fao.org.
5. (2013). What is a megadiverse country? Retrieved on January 5, 2017 from Biodiversidad Mexicana website: biodiversity.gob.mx.