Venezuela

Venezuela is a coastal country in northern South America, bordering the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean. The Andes Mountains rise in Venezuela’s northwest, and unique table-top mountains dominate the Guiana Highlands in the east. The Orinoco River crosses the country to drain in the Atlantic. Most of the country is used for human activities, in its majority by rangeland. Venezuela has high biodiversity rarity of terrestrial land vertebrates at a global scale. When analysed as single taxons, the rarity of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles is also high. The rarity of marine fish and mammals is also high. Challenges to biodiversity include water pollution in major lakes; deforestation; soil degradation; coastal pollution; and mining activities.