Venezuela Environment - 2024

Environment - current issues

sewage pollution of Lago de Valencia; oil and urban pollution of Lago de Maracaibo; deforestation; soil degradation; urban and industrial pollution, especially along the Caribbean coast; threat to the rainforest ecosystem from irresponsible mining operations

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, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Climate

tropical; hot, humid; more moderate in highlands

Land use

agricultural land: 24.5% (2018 est.)

arable land: 3.1% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0.8% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 20.6% (2018 est.)

forest: 52.1% (2018 est.)

other: 23.4% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 88.4% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 1.16% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Food insecurity

widespread lack of access:due to severe economic crisis - the national economy, highly dependent on oil production and exports, was forecast to contract in 2021 for the eighth consecutive year; with the persistent negative effects of the COVID‑19 pandemic that have compounded the already severe macro‑economic crisis, the access to food of the most vulnerable households is expected to deteriorate throughout 2021 and into 2022 due to widespread losses of income‑generating activities and soaring food prices (2022)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 16.21 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 164.18 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 68.66 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 9,779,093 tons (2010 est.)

Major lakes (area sq km)

salt water lake(s): Lago de Maracaibo - 13,010 sq km

Major rivers (by length in km)

Rio Negro (shared with Colombia [s] and Brazil [m]) - 2,250 km; Orinoco river source and mouth (shared with Colombia) - 2,101 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)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 5.12 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 790 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 16.71 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

1.33 trillion cubic meters (2020 est.)