Brazil Environment - 2023

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Environment - current issues

deforestation in Amazon Basin destroys the habitat and endangers a multitude of plant and animal species indigenous to the area; illegal wildlife trade; illegal poaching; air and water pollution in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and several other large cities; land degradation and water pollution caused by improper mining activities; wetland degradation; severe oil spills

Environment - international agreements

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

signed, but not ratified: Marine Dumping-London Protocol

Climate

mostly tropical, but temperate in south

Land use

agricultural land: 32.9% (2018 est.)

arable land: 8.6% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0.8% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 23.5% (2018 est.)

forest: 61.9% (2018 est.)

other: 5.2% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 87.8% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 0.87% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

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

Revenue from forest resources

0.62% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0.01% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 11.49 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 462.3 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 401.83 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 79,889,010 tons (2015 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 1,118,446 tons (2014 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 1.4% (2014 est.)

Major lakes (area sq km)

fresh water lake(s): Lagoa dos Patos - 10,140 sq km

salt water lake(s): Lagoa Mirim (shared with Uruguay) - 2,970 sq km

Major rivers (by length in km)

Amazon river mouth (shared with Peru [s]) - 6,400 km; Río de la Plata/Paraná river source (shared with Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay [m]) - 4,880 km; Tocantins - 3,650 km; São Francisco - 3,180 km; Paraguay river source (shared with Argentina and Paraguay [m]) - 2,549 km; Rio Negro river mouth (shared with Colombia [s] and Venezuela) - 2,250 km; Uruguay river source (shared with Argentina and Uruguay [m]) - 1,610 km
note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth

Major watersheds (area sq km)

Atlantic Ocean drainage: Amazon (6,145,186 sq km), Orinoco (953,675 sq km), Paraná (2,582,704 sq km), São Francisco (617,814 sq km), Tocantins (764,213 sq km)

Major aquifers

Amazon Basin, Guarani Aquifer System, Maranhao Basin

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 16.13 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 9.51 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 41.42 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

8.65 trillion cubic meters (2020 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Brazil on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Brazil 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Brazil 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.