Latin America has had a long history of environmental problems.  In recent years, as population increased and economic opportunities grew, people began to exploit the environment more and more.

As with every other continent, animal extinction hit Latin America.  In the last 100,000 years, 80% of South America's large animals have become extinct.  More recently, the ocelot and chinchilla were trapped into extinction.

Latin America.  Image Credit: ClickArt Image Pak.

European plants such as ferns, thistles, nettles, and others were introduced into Latin America and now flourish there.  They have displaced many native plants that can no longer survive.

Direct European colonization and various other influences heavily affected Latin America's environment.  In many countries, the economy focused on one crop, and the land was seldom owned by the common people.  Even in the early 1990s, 1.5% of the people owned 2/3 of the land.

The increase in crop production and population growth caused considerably more land to be used.  Many tropical rain forests were cut down to provide lumber and land for agriculture or livestock breeding.

While the rural areas were being made available for human use, urban areas were taking off as well.  Urban populations throughout Latin America grew by over 5% annually in the 1950s.  By the 1980s, 2/3 of Latin America's population lived in urban areas.

The urban shift resulted in increased pollution and often severely undermined sanitation and health.

Overall during these decades, the natural environment was used up for rural production of agricultural and other products.  Meanwhile, a rapidly increasing urban population added the problem of pollution to an already weakened environment.