Water resources issues in South America

Abstract

South America has some of the richest water resources in the world. It is second only to Asia in total annual river discharge, but since its land area is less than half that of Asia, it far exceeds all other continents in cubic metres of runoff per square kilometre: almost double that of Asia. Annual water resources in South America average around 582,500 m3 km−2, whilst no other continent yields more than 300,000 m3 km−2.