livians elected
Movement Toward Socialism leader Evo MORALES president - by the
widest margin of any leader since the restoration of civilian rule
in 1982 - after he ran on a promise to change the country's
traditional political class and empower the nation's poor majority.
However, since taking office, his controversial strategies have
exacerbated racial and economic tensions between the Amerindian
populations of the Andean west and the non-indigenous communities of
the eastern lowlands.

Geography Bolivia

Location:
Central South America, southwest of Brazil

Geographic coordinates:
17 00 S, 65 00 W

Map references:
South America

Area:
total: 1,098,580 sq km
land: 1,084,390 sq km
water: 14,190 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly less than three times the size of Montana

Land boundaries:
total: 6,940 km
border countries: Argentina 832 km, Brazil 3,423 km, Chile 860 km,
Paraguay 750 km, Peru 1,075 km

Coastline:
0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims:
none (landlocked)

Climate:
varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid

Terrain:
rugged Andes Mountains with a highland plateau (Altiplano), hills,
lowland plains of the Amazon Basin

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Rio Paraguay 90 m
highest point: Nevado Sajama 6,542 m

Natural resources:
tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver,
iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower

Land use:
arable land: 2.78%
permanent crops: 0.19%
other: 97.03% (2005)

Irrigated land:
1,320 sq km (2003)

Natural hazards:
flooding in the northeast (March-April)

Environment - current issues:
the clearing of land for agricultural purposes and the
international demand for tropical timber are contributing to
deforestation; soil erosion from overgrazing and poor cultivation
methods (including slash-and-burn agriculture); desertification;
loss of biodiversity; industrial pollution of water supplies used
for drinking and irrigation

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law
of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution,
Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification, Marine Life
Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection

Geography - note: