Environmental issues in Venezuela include natural factors such as earthquakes, floods, rockslides, mudslides, and periodic droughts. It ranks among the top 10 of the world’s most ecologically diverse countries. However, it has suffered great environmental degradation. Venezuela has the third-highest deforestation rate in South America at 1.1 percent. The Guri dam, one of the world’s largest, flooded a massive forested area and is now being filled with silt deposited by runoff from deforested areas. Environmental issues include sewage pollution into Lago de Valencia, located not far to the west of Caracas; oil and urban pollution of Lago de Maracaibo, located in northwestern Zulia State; deforestation; soil degradation; and urban and industrial pollution, especially along the Caribbean coast. Current concerns also include irresponsible mining operations that endanger the rain-forest ecosystem and indigenous peoples. Successive governments have attempted to develop environmental regulations. However, only 35 percent to 40 percent of Venezuela's land is regulated thus far, 29 percent as part of about 100 national parks. Global earthquake epicenters, 1963–1998. ... Deforestation is the conversion of forested areas to non-forested. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... City motto: Ave María Santísima, sin pecado concebida, en el primer instante de su ser natural. ... Estado Zulia is one of the 23 states (estados) into which Venezuela is divided. ... Retrogression and degradation are two regressive evolution processes associated with the loss of equilibrium of a stable soil. ... Central America and the Caribbean (detailed pdf map) The Caribbean, (Spanish: Caribe; French: Caraïbe or more commonly Antilles; Dutch: Cariben or Caraïben, or more commonly Antillen) or the West Indies, is a group of islands and countries which are in or border the Caribbean Sea which lies on...

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