Biodiversity in Latin America and the Caribbean

The report examines the severe biodiversity loss in Latin America and the Caribbean, highlighting phenomena like 'empty forest syndrome' and the 'reverse terraforming' caused by gold mining in the Amazon. It emphasizes the critical link between biodiversity and human well-being, citing the water crises in the Northern Andes due to páramo degradation and the role of soil organic matter in climate mitigation. The document advocates for 'inclusive conservation' that integrates Indigenous and local knowledge, arguing that Indigenous lands are essential for climate mitigation. It also analyzes the impact of global trade and 'telecoupling'—where demand for energy transition minerals like lithium in the Global North drives environmental degradation in the Andes—and calls for a sustainable blue economy and the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

• Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has experienced a catastrophic decline in wildlife, with a 95% decrease in wild vertebrate populations over the last 50 years according to the 2024 Living Planet Index.
• The 'empty forest syndrome' is widespread in LAC, where forests appear intact but have lost critical wildlife; in the Andean Chocó of northwestern Ecuador, over 90% of medium and large vertebrates have disappeared.
• Gold mining in the Amazon is creating 'biological deserts' through a process described as 'reverse terraforming,' which destroys the organic topsoil and microbiome, rendering the land incapable of natural regeneration. By 2023, approximately 1.3 million hectares in the Amazon basin were impacted by gold mining.
• The Northern Andes are facing severe water and energy crises because the Andean páramo—which acts as a 'natural sponge' for water regulation—has been degraded by poorly planned agriculture, overgrazing, and mining, accelerating the effects of climate change.
• Soil organic matter in LAC has decreased by an average of 5% to 15%, with losses reaching 40% to 75% in areas converted for intensive livestock or agriculture, such as the Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, and Amazon in Brazil.
• Inclusive conservation is essential because Indigenous peoples manage or have rights to over a quarter of the planet's land area, and a third of the world's intact forests are located within Indigenous lands, where forest loss rates are significantly lower.
• The 'telecoupling' effect means that the energy transition in the Global North can cause environmental damage in the Global South; for example, lithium extraction in the 'lithium triangle' (Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina) consumes vital water reserves in arid Andean wetlands to supply electric vehicle batteries.
• International trade in raw materials drives biodiversity loss in the South American Gran Chaco, where forests are cleared for soybean and corn monocultures and cattle ranching to supply markets in Asia and Europe.
• The region has significant potential for a sustainable blue economy, as LAC contains 19% of the world's marine ecoregions and 25% of the world's marine biodiversity, including high-carbon 'blue carbon' sinks in mangroves.

APA

Mastrangelo, M., Attanasio, A., & Torres, I. (2025). Biodiversity in Latin America and the Caribbean. Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. https://iai.int/administrador/assets/images/ckfinder/files/IAI_Biodiversity_Compendium_2025.pdf

Chicago

Mastrangelo, Matías, Angelo Attanasio, and Irene Torres. Biodiversity in Latin America and the Caribbean. Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, 2025. https://iai.int/administrador/assets/images/ckfinder/files/IAI_Biodiversity_Compendium_2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Mastrangelo |first1=Matías |last2=Attanasio |first2=Angelo |last3=Torres |first3=Irene |title=Biodiversity in Latin America and the Caribbean |publisher=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |date=2025 |url=https://iai.int/administrador/assets/images/ckfinder/files/IAI_Biodiversity_Compendium_2025.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mastrangelo2025biodiversity, author = {Mastrangelo, Matías and Attanasio, Angelo and Torres, Irene}, title = {{Biodiversity in Latin America and the Caribbean}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2025}, url = {https://iai.int/administrador/assets/images/ckfinder/files/IAI_Biodiversity_Compendium_2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }