Environmental issues in Uruguay

Quebrada de los Cuervos, Treinta y Tres Department.

This page covers environmental issues in Uruguay.

Overview

The Uruguayan savanna ecoregion used to be covered by grasslands, palm savannas, and gallery forests along the Uruguay, Negro, Yaguarí, Queguay, and Tacuarembó rivers. Unfortunately, agriculture and cattle ranching have heavily altered these natural communities. The savannas are critically endangered because there are few small isolated patches of intact habitat remaining. The whole ecoregion has been severely altered by cattle ranching, one of the main pillars of the national economy in Uruguay. About 80% of Uruguayan territory is used for cattle ranching on natural and artificial savannas.

Current issues

Some of Uruguay's major environmental issues include:

• water pollution from the meat packing/tannery industry;
• inadequate solid/hazardous waste disposal.

Agencies

The main state agency in charge of the environment is the National Directorate for the Environment (Spanish: Dirección Nacional de Medio Ambiente, DINAMA) which is part of the Ministry of Housing, Territorial Planning and Environment.

Green parties

Green politics did not set roots in Uruguay for a long time. In the 1989 election the Green Eto-Ecologist Party obtained 0.5% of the popular vote; in general, environmental organizations have had low political significance, often as part of other bigger parties.

In the 2014 election a new political group is taking part, the Ecologist Radical Intransigent Party.

See also

• Uruguay River pulp mill dispute