🦥 Non-Human Life

Welcome to Latinometrics. We bring you Latin American insights and trends through concise, thought-provoking data visualizations.

Wildlife 🐆

Let’s be honest—Latin America is one of the most beautiful regions in the world. Just look outside.

Part of that is the beauty of cities like Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro. But another big part of it comes from the region’s natural endowment, as a haven for plants and animals of all varieties.

Now the bad news: much of that natural beauty is under threat today and has been for decades. And you can see this in the average change in animal population size since 1970.

Latin America has lost more wildlife than any other world region over the last half-century. This is despite the fact that the region contains some of the most biodiverse countries in the world: namely, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Bolivia.

Thousands of animal species inhabit the lands and waters of these six countries, yet in many cases they’re under threat, whether owing to the effects of oil exploration and drilling, overfishing, or illegal poaching.

From Mexico’s deserts to the ever-famous Amazon rainforest, animal species are at less than a tenth of where they were just 50 years ago, a far cry from regions like Europe and Central Asia.

A big part of this is obviously tied to deforestation, which some governments have tried hard to fight in recent years.

Brazil, for example, contains over 12% of the world’s total forest area (second only to Russia). The country’s current administration has sought to fight the heavy deforestation, much of it manmade, which has been seen as of late throughout the Amazon, but other regions such as the Cerrado and Pantanal are also suffering.

In any case, whether to preserve natural beauty or save countless animal species, Latin Americans from across the region must act to restore their natural forestry—and slow the decimation of local wildlife in the process.

Comment of the Week 🗣️

María Teresa shares her experience traveling to Costa Rica from Mexico.

Feedback or chart suggestions? Reply to this email, and let us know!

Join the discussion on social media, where we’ll be posting today’s charts throughout the week.