Natural Resources from Chile

Because the country’s geography is very diverse, Chile presents a huge variety of soils that allow him cultivation of several commercial speciesincluding corn, oats and wheat. However, Chile does not stand out for the production of these crops, but rather for the production of fruit species, being one of the 5 countries in the world that produces more cherries and blueberries and one of the 10 countries in the world that produces more grapes, kiwis, apples and plums.

If you wonder what are the main natural resources of Chile, possibly within the response we will find mining. Mining resources constitute a Important economic activity for Chile since it is the first country worldwide in the copper production. It also stands out for the production of Renio, Lithium, nitrates, iodine, molybdenum and silver, among others.

Despite the importance of the mining sector in the Chilean economy, it is impossible to overlook the pollution generated by the exploitation of this resource, which causes, in general terms, in general terms, air, soil and water pollution.

In this other post you can read about how mineral extraction affects the environment.

Chile presents a wide variety of water resources. In principle, thanks to the characteristics of the relief they can be found Numerous short length rivers that cross the width of the country and run from the Andes mountain range to the Pacific Ocean. Likewise, more than more than 300 lakesmost of them fed by thaw waters.

Finally, another very important water resource of Chile is its glaciers. In fact, it is estimated that Chile has around its extension with around 80 glaciersmany of them shared with Argentina. Unfortunately, Chilean glaciers are not exempt for the effects of climate change and, as a result, many of them are decreasing on the surface.

Here you can know why water is a renewable but limited resource.

Another of the main economic activities of Chile, revolves around Aquaculture and fishing resource. In this country, aquaculture develops both in the lakes and in the Pacific Ocean, being some of the species that are marketed by salmon, trout, sole, anchovy, tuna and sardine, among many others.

Again, it is impossible to ignore the huge Environmental impact caused by the exploitation of the fishing resourceespecially the impact caused by the salmon industry because they produce enormous ocean pollution. In addition, many of the species that are raised are exotic and end up moving to the native species of Chile.

Within the Renewable resources from Chilewe can mention forest resources. The Republic of Chile, has 19.04% of its surface covered by Native species forests of which many of them are endemic. In itself, from forests, numerous ecosystem services are obtained, such as water storage, temperature regulation, carbon dioxide kidnapping and soil protection against desertification, among many others.

While the forest resource is a renewable natural resource, many species that make up forests, such as Coihues, Alerces and Araucarias, are very slow growth and mature specimens are millenary. Therefore, the regeneration of this type of forest is difficult to observe in a human time scale.

In contrast to the previous section, within the non -renewable resources of Chile are oil resources. Since 1950 Chile began with the intense exploration and exploitation of oil deposits. Most of them are located in the south of the country, although there is a site located in the center of the territory. Although the use of this resource brought multiple benefits, its exploitation causes a Strong soil, air and water pollution And, in addition, the exploitation of the oil resource is the main responsible for climate change.

We recommend you read this other article about oil pollution: causes, consequences and how to avoid it. We also advise you to read about these environmental problems in Chile.

The Chilean protected areas, regulated by the System of Wild Areas protected by the State, cover 20.4% of the national territory. Thanks to the Diversity of protected landscapes that exist, Chile has significantly increased the attraction of tourists. In fact, tourism constitutes one of the main economic activities of the country since 1990.

To learn more on this topic, we recommend reading our articles about what the protected natural areas and the importance of natural reserves and protected areas are.

After discovering these natural resources from Chile, you may want to learn more about nature in this country. To do this, we offer you our article on Chile’s flora and fauna.

If you want to read more articles similar to Natural Resources from Chilewe recommend that you enter our category of other environment.