Ecuador Environment - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Environment - current issues

deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; water pollution; pollution from oil production wastes in ecologically sensitive areas of the Amazon Basin and Galapagos Islands

Environment - international agreements

party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 14.91 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 41.15 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 23.51 megatons (2020 est.)

Climate

tropical along coast, becoming cooler inland at higher elevations; tropical in Amazonian jungle lowlands

Land use

agricultural land: 29.7% (2018 est.)

arable land: 4.7% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 5.6% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 19.4% (2018 est.)

forest: 38.9% (2018 est.)

other: 31.4% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 64.8% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 1.62% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

total population growth rate v. urban population growth rate, 2000-2030

Revenue from forest resources

forest revenues: 0.27% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

coal revenues: 0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Major infectious diseases

degree of risk: high (2020)

food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever

vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 5,297,211 tons (2015 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 683,340 tons (2015 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 12.9% (2015 est.)

Major watersheds (area sq km)

Atlantic Ocean drainage: Amazon (6,145,186 sq km)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 1.293 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

industrial: 549 million cubic meters (2017 est.)

agricultural: 8.076 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

Total renewable water resources

442.4 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Ecuador on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Ecuador 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Ecuador 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.