Q&A
Environment section for all countries
BELIZE
Belize is a country located on the Caribbean coast of the Central American isthmus. It shares borders with Mexico to the north and Guatemala to the west. The country consists predominantly of tropical lowland and swampy plains, though the Maya Mountains in the west rise to almost 1000m (3280ft). Thirty kilometers (19mi) offshore is the world's second largest barrier reef, home to a broad range of marine life.
Half of the country is covered by dense (but rapidly disappearing) jungle; the rest is farmland, scrub and swamp. The tropical forests provide habitats for a wide range of animals, including jaguar, puma, ocelot, armadillo, tapir and crocodile. The country also harbors keel-billed toucan, an abundance of macaws and parrots, and heron and snowy egret.
Belize is hot and humid year round, but respite from the weather can be found in the cooler mountains or from the tropical breezes which waft over the cayes. Rainfall is a whopping 4m (13ft) a year, most of it falling between June and November.
CANADA
Canada has an incredible mix of native flora and fauna. It comprises eight vegetation zones, most of which are dominated by forest. Some of the common tree species include white and black spruce, balsam and Douglas fir, western red cedar, white pine and the sugar maple which bears one of Canada's best-known symbols - the maple leaf which appears on the country's flag. Endemic animals include the grizzly, black, brown and polar bears, beaver, buffalo, wolf, coyote, lynx, cougar, deer, caribou, elk and moose. There are also 500 species of birds, such as the great blue heron, Canada geese and many varieties of duck. Moves are afoot to ensure protection for endangered species like the beluga whale, burrowing owl whooping crane and eastern wolf. Canada has 39 national parks, 145 parks-administered national historic sites and 13 areas of such natural significance that they are on the UN World Heritage list.
Situated north of the USA, between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Canada is the world's second largest country (Russia is the first). It extends some 7700km (4775mi) east to west and 4600km (2850mi) north to south. Nearly 90% of Canadians huddle along the 6379km (3955mi) southern border with the USA. Though much of the land is lake and river-filled forest, there are mountains, plains and even a small desert. The Great Plains, or prairies, cover Manitoba, Saskatchewan and parts of Alberta. These former grasslands are now responsible for Canada's abundant wheat crop. Western Canada is known for its Rocky Mountains, while the east has the country's major cities and also its most visited geographic feature, Niagara Falls. The Canadian Shield, an ancient, rocky and glacially sanded region formed more than 2.5 billion years ago, covers most of the north of the country. The Arctic region, in the far north, is where you'll find frozen tundra merging into islands that are ice-bound for most of the year.
COSTA RICA
Costa Rica is bordered to the north by Nicaragua and to the southeast by Panama. It has both a Caribbean and a Pacific coast. A series of volcanic mountain chains runs from the Nicaraguan border to the Panamanian border, splitting the country in two. In the centre of these ranges is a high-altitude plain, with coastal lowlands on either side. Over half the population lives on this plain, this has fertile volcanic soils. The Caribbean coast is 212km (131mi) long and is characterized by mangroves, swamps and sandy beaches. The Pacific coast is much more rugged and rocky, and, thanks to a number of gulfs and peninsulas, is a tortuous 1016km (630mi) long.
The country's biodiversity attracts nature lovers from all over the world; its tropical forests contain 1500 tree species. National parks cover almost 12% of the country, and forest reserves and indigenous reservations boost the protected land area to 27%.
Costa Rica's jungles provide a variety of habitats for the country's fauna including four types of monkey, sloth’s, armadillos, jaguars and tapirs. The primary attraction for many visitors is the 850 recorded bird species, which include the resplendent quetzal, indigo-capped hummingbirds, macaws and toucans. There are also a number of dazzling butterflies.
EL SALVADOR
El Salvador is a tiny country, located on the Pacific coast of Central America. It's bordered by Guatemala to the west, Honduras to the north and east, and the Pacific Ocean to the south.
For the most part, El Salvador is lush, green and surrounded by cloud-misted hills. More than 25 extinct volcanoes dot the country, the largest being San Salvador, San Vicente, Santa Ana and San Miguel. Less than 6% of the country remains forested since the land is intensively cultivated; coffee predominates in the highlands, sugar in the lowlands and cotton on the coastal plains. However, with the highest level of environmental damage in the Americas, El Salvador runs the risk of losing its beauty, especially since it's the only country in Latin America without environmental protection laws. Many of the country's river systems suffer from pollution, and some fear that at the current rate of destruction the country will run out of drinking water in less than 15 years.
Although industrial development and hotel construction are major threats to the environment, the most visible problem is trash. A circle of soaring vultures usually indicates where a new load has been dumped by the side of the road. Other fauna that has survived this onslaught includes quetzals, toucans, monkeys, white-tailed deer and zillions of butterflies. There are, however, 90 endangered species in El Salvador, including marine turtles and armadillos.
A wet and a dry season dominate El Salvador's climate. During the wet season (May to October), there's generally a downpour every evening. Between November and April the country is dry and dusty. Daytime temperatures vary little, reaching around 30°C (86°F) in November and 34°C (93°F) in March and April. The coastal lowlands are much hotter than the rest of the country. San Salvador is 680m (2230ft) above sea level, so it has a moderate climate compared to other parts of the country, but it's still pretty sweaty.
GREENLAND
Greenland is so far north that its residents are the first to see Old Nick fly across the rooftops each year. It's shaped like a witch's shoe laying on its side, with the back of the heel flush against the arctic polar cap, the tongue sloping down the Denmark Strait and the turned-up toes pointing into the Atlantic Ocean. Over three quarters of the country is unremittingly ice: that adds up to the size of Texas. The sheer weight of all this ice has caused the middle of the country to sag, forming a concave basin which reaches a depth of 360m (1180ft) below sea level. Above the ground towering crystal columns of ice dot the landscape, glaciers calve monstrous icebergs into the sea, and fjords knit the shoreline. If the cosmic defrost button ever got pushed, the ice slush would be enough to turn coastal cities around the world into large urban swimming pools.
The peculiar geography of Greenland and its proximity to the North Pole results in a number of spectacular natural phenomena, but none more awesome than the aurora borealis and Fata Morgana effect. The aurora borealis' wafting curtains of colored lights, most often a faint green or light rose color, are caused by charged particles from the sun colliding with the earth's atmosphere. Reflections of water, ice and snow, combined with temperature inversions, causes the illusion of solid, well defined features where there are none. Hence those early apocryphal tales of ships sailing on the ice, large cities in the middle of nowhere and green forests appearing on the horizon.
Most of the vegetation in Greenland is stunted but in late summer the lowland areas of the south are carpeted with wild flowers - chamomile, dandelion, harebell, and Arctic poppies - and wild berries. The harsh climate puts off all but the hardiest of animals but what the country lacks in numbers it makes up for in exotica. Above the ground you can see caribou, musk oxen, polar bears, lemmings, and (much-prized for their pelts) the Arctic white fox and blue-grey fox. In the water any number of whale species is likely to give you the fluke, from the Disney-cute orca, or killer whale, to the beautiful white beluga whale. The icy seas are also home to the narwhal with its unicorn tusk, and of course a whole passel of seals and walrus.
Greenland and Greenpeace are a surprisingly volatile mix. Green peace’s anti-sealing and anti-whaling stance effectively destroyed Greenland's economic base, particularly in north Greenland where subsistence hunting represents 80% of the income. Since then, Greenpeace have recognized that Greenland is a different kettle of fish and (except in the case of endangered species) subsistence hunting is now accepted, but many Greenlanders still feel bitter about the organization's intrusion into their traditional way of life.
Summer is a relative term in Greenland but basically it's that time between May and July when the thermometer busts a gut to climb over 20°C (68°F). This is minus the wind factor so it still means a warm jacket or pullover. This is midnight sun time when every day is, well, a day and a night; when citizens take long strolls and spontaneous boat trips at odd moments of the night, and normal calendar time takes a hike. Of course the obverse side of the coin is that when winter comes, it comes with a vengeance. When brass monkey-weather sets in, temperatures in the far north can reach as low -40°C (-40°F) and routinely sink to -20°C (-9°F)in the south. While places in the south might be gratified with a few hours of weak pale sunlight during the winter, the far north experiences true polar nights with weeks of no sun at all.
GUATEMALA
Guatemala is Central America's westernmost country, bordering Mexico to the north and west, Belize to the northeast and Honduras and El Salvador to the east. Guatemala's volatile topography is a mountainous and forested jumble of volcanoes and jungle. The western highlands are home to over 30 volcanoes, which reach heights of up to 3800m (12,464ft) and cast a red glow at night. The area experiences frequent earthquake activity. The intensively cultivated Pacific coastline is a vast expanse of mostly black-sand beaches, and the tiny Caribbean coastline also lacks beaches but is culturally rich. The vast jungle lowland of El Petén fills the interior, characterized by a mix of banana plantations and soils rich in dinosaur bones.
Guatemala's national bird is the quetzal - a gorgeous creature which is almost extinct, due to deforestation and poachers. Puma, jaguar, ocelot, jaguarundi and margay - and their assorted diet of deer, peccary and tapir - survive, though are seldom seen.
The Pacific coast is tropically sweltering, with temperatures often hovering around 38°C (100°F). The seemingly constant high humidity diminishes a little in the dry season. The highlands are freezing at night, damp and chilly during the rainy season and warm and pleasant during their dry season (October to May), which is somewhat different from the rest of the country's December-to-April parched period. El Petén's climate varies only from hot and humid to hot and dry.
HONDURAS
Honduras is the knee of Central America, bordered to the south by Nicaragua and El Salvador and to the west by Guatemala. It has a 644km (399mi) long Caribbean coast and a 124km (77mi) pipsqueak of a Pacific coast. The Caribbean Bay Islands and, further northeast, the distant Swan Islands are both part of Honduran territory.
Three-quarters of the country is composed of rugged hills and mountains, ranging from 300m to nearly 2850m (984ft to 9348ft) in height. Lowlands are found only along the coasts and in major river valleys. Deforestation is occurring at a rate of 3000 sq km (1170 sq mi) a year, which, if continued, will turn the country into a treeless desert within the next 20 years. However, there are still largely untouched areas, especially in the Mosquitia region. Fauna includes jaguars, armadillos, wild pigs, monkeys and alligators and abundant bird life such as toucans, herons and kingfishers.
The climate in Honduras varies between the mountainous interior and the coastal lowlands and between the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. The interior is much cooler than the humid coast, and temperate Tegucigalpa has maximum temperatures varying between 25 and 30°C (77 and 86°F). The rainy season technically begins in May and lasts until October. This means that the interior and Pacific coasts are relatively dry between November and April, but on the Caribbean coast it rains all year. The wettest months on the Caribbean coast are from September/October to January/February. The tourist season on the Caribbean coast is between February and April, during the US winter. This is a good time to visit, but prices will be lower and there will be fewer tourists if you avoid this season.
MEXICO
Covering almost two million sq km (800,000 sq mi), Mexico follows a northwest to southeast curve, narrowing to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec then continuing to the Yucatán Peninsula. On the west and south the country is bordered by the Pacific Ocean, with the Gulf of California lying between the Baja California peninsula and the mainland. Mexico's east coast is washed by the Gulf of Mexico, while the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula meets the Caribbean Sea. Mexico shares borders with the USA (to the north), and Guatemala and Belize (to the southeast).
Bridging temperate and tropical regions, and lying in the latitudes that contain most of the world's deserts, Mexico has an enormous range of natural environments and vegetation zones. Its rugged, mountainous topography adds to the variety by creating countless microclimates. Despite the potential for great ecological diversity, human impact has been enormous. Before the Spanish conquest, about two-thirds of the country was forested. Today, only one-fifth of the country remains verdant, mainly in the south and east.
Mexico is a mountainous country with two north-south ranges framing a group of broad central plateaus known as the Altiplano Central. In the south, the Sierra Madre del Sur stretches across the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. From the isthmus, a narrow stretch of lowlands runs along the Pacific coast south to Guatemala. These lowlands are backed by the Chiapas highlands, which merge into a steamy tropical rainforest area stretching into northern Guatemala. The flat, low Yucatán Peninsula is tropical savanna to its tip, where there's an arid, desert-like region.
Mexico has suffered more than its fair share of climatic and environmental disasters, though it escaped Hurricane Mitch, which devastated several Central American countries in late 1998. Hurricane Pauline caused 300 deaths and great damage in the Pacific coastal states of Guerrero and Oaxaca in October 1997. Lower than usual rainfall in the winter of 1997-98 (blamed on that year's strong El Niño current across the Pacific Ocean) brought a drought and thousands of forest fires around Mexico in the first half of 1998. Tropical storms and torrential rain along most of the Pacific coast and parts of central Mexico in September 1998 had their worst effects in Chiapas, where many people perished and the road system was badly damaged. This was Mexico's worst natural disaster since the 1985 Mexico City earthquake.
Domesticated grazing animals have pushed the larger animals, such as puma, deer and coyote, into isolated pockets. However, armadillos, rabbits and snakes are common, and the tropical forests of the south and east still harbor (in places) howler and spider monkeys, jaguars, ocelots, tapirs, anteaters, peccaries (a type of wild pig), deer, macaws, toucans, parrots and some tropical reptiles, such as the boa constrictor, though these habitats too are being eroded.
NICARAGUA
Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America. It's bordered to the north by Honduras, to the south by Costa Rica, to the east by the Caribbean Sea and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. The country has three distinct geographic regions: the Pacific lowlands, the north-central mountains and the Caribbean lowlands, also called the Mosquito Coast or Mosquitía. The fertile Pacific lowlands are interrupted by about 40 volcanoes, and dominated by Lago de Nicaragua, which is the largest lake in Central America. The Mosquito Coast is a sparsely populated rainforest area and the outlet for many of the large rivers originating in the central mountains. To date, 17% of the country has been given national-park status.
Lago de Nicaragua supports unusual fish, including the world's only freshwater sharks, as well as a huge variety of bird life. The cloud- and rainforests in the northwest contain abundant wildlife including ocelots, warthogs, pumas, jaguars, sloths and spider monkeys. Avian life in the forests is particularly rich: the cinnamon hummingbird, ruddy woodpecker, stripe-breasted wren, elegant trogon, shining hawk and even the quetzal, the holy bird of the Maya, can all be seen. The jungles on the Caribbean coast contain trees that grow up to almost 200ft (60m) high and are home to boas, anacondas, jaguars, deer and howler monkeys.
Nicaragua was devastated by Hurricane Mitch in November 1998, when more than a year's worth of rain fell in in just seven days. A series of violent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in the fall of 1999 didn't help the situation much.
PANAMA
The isthmus of Panama is the umbilical cord joining South and Central America. It borders Costa Rica to the west and Colombia to the east. Panama's arched shape reflects both its role as a bridge between continents and as a passageway between oceans. At its narrowest point, it is only 50km (30mi) wide, but it has a 1160km (720mi) Caribbean coastline on its northern shore and a 1690km (1048mi) Pacific coast to the south. The famous canal is 80km (50mi) long and effectively divides the country into eastern and western regions.
There are hundreds of islands near the Panamanian coasts. The two major archipelagos are the San Blás and Bocas Del Toro chains in the Caribbean Sea, though the best snorkeling, diving and deep-sea fishing are to be found in the Pacific near Coiba Island and the Pearl Islands. Panama has flat coastal lowlands and two mountain chains running along its spine. The highest peak is Volcán Barú at 3475m (11,400ft).
Rainforests dominate the Canal Zone, the northwestern portion of the country and much of the eastern half. Although Costa Rica is widely known for its fantastic wildlife, Panama has, in fact, a greater number of flora and fauna species, more land set aside for preservation and far fewer people wandering through the jungle looking for wildlife and inadvertently scaring it away. There's much truth in the Panamanian saying that in Costa Rica 20 tourists try to see one resplendent quetzal, but in Panama one person tries to see 20 of these exquisite birds.
Panama has two seasons. The dry season lasts from January to mid-April and the rainy season from mid-April to December. Rainfall is heavier on the Caribbean side of the highlands, though most people live on or near the Pacific coast. Temperatures are typically hot in the lowlands (between 21°C and 32°C/70°F and 90°F) and cool in the mountains (between 10 and 18°C/50 and 64°F). These vary little throughout the year.
UNITED STATES
The continental US stretch across North America 'from sea to shining sea'. There are three major mountain ranges: the Appalachians in the east, the titanic Rocky Mountains in the west and the Sierra Nevada along the border of Nevada and California. The country has abundant natural resources and vast swathes of fertile soil.
The Atlantic Coast is the most heavily populated area and retains strong traces of its European heritage. This is where the oldest American cities such as Boston, New York, Washington and Philadelphia are located, and where most of the major events in early American history took place. The central northeast is marked by the humongous Great Lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario), which occupy an area larger than most European countries. The rivers and canals linking the lakes to the Atlantic Ocean made virtual seaports out of Midwestern cities like Chicago and Detroit.
The central area drained by the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio Rivers is the grain basket of the country. Farther west, on the Great Plains, are the country's chief grazing areas. This is cowboy country, though today the trusty steeds tend to be battered pickup trucks rather than hi-ho Silvers. Desert predominates in the southwest, where the climate and degraded soils keep population density to a minimum, and where you really don't need much of a wind to see tumbleweed bouncing across the highway. Cross the Sierra Nevada and you're on the West Coast, which was settled by Americans only 150 years ago but has been on a headlong rush into the future ever since.
The USA borders Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. Alaska juts out from northwestern Canada; Hawaii lies 2500 miles (4000km) off the country's western coast, in the middle of the Pacific.
With such varied topography, the US has extremely diverse ecosystems. The most impressive flora are the huge sequoias of the West Coast, some of which are believed to be the oldest living things on earth. The eastern states are home to leafy hardwood forests of maple, oak and elm, which burst into color in autumn.
The largest land mammals, such as black and grizzly bears, elk and deer, roam the northwestern states. The southern states are home to some of the most interesting fauna, including the marsupial opossum and the alligator. Beasties to avoid include rattlesnakes, bears, wild boar, alligators and Hank, a gas station attendant from Perth Amboy, New Jersey.
The USA is a federal system, and powers not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution are retained by the states. Nevertheless, the powers of the central government have increased over the years relative to those of state governments. Each state has its own constitution and a government that generally mirrors that of the federal government. The governor is the state's chief executive, and a state senate and a house delegation enact state laws (Nebraska alone has a unicameral state government), and a state police and court system enforce them. Among other things, states are responsible for education, criminal justice, prisons, hospitals, administration of elections, regulation of commerce and maintenance of highways. Many of these things are now done in cooperation with federal government, especially for funding purposes.
The states are further divided into counties, boroughs, parishes, cities, towns, school districts and/or special districts that provide services like police, sanitation, schools and so on. Local government units often combine to administer a large urban area as a single unit, as in the five boroughs of New York City.