Central South America, southwest of Brazil

17 00 S, 65 00 W

South America

total: 1,098,580 sq km
land: 1,084,390 sq km
water: 14,190 sq km

slightly less than three times the size of Montana

total: 6,743 km
border countries: Argentina 832 km, Brazil 3,400 km, Chile 861 km,
Paraguay 750 km, Peru 900 km

0 km (landlocked)

none (landlocked)

varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid

rugged Andes Mountains with a highland plateau (Altiplano),
hills, lowland plains of the Amazon Basin

lowest point: Rio Paraguay 90 m
highest point: Nevado Sajama 6,542 m

tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten,
antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower

arable land: 2%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 24%
forests and woodland: 53%
other: 21% (1993 est.)

1,750 sq km (1993 est.)

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)

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

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol,
Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea,
Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83,
Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping,
Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection

landlocked; shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's
highest navigable lake (elevation 3,805 m), with Peru