Experts attribute seventy percent of the damage to poor land-use decisions. Environmental degradation in the LAC region directly affects the United States. Some impacts are immediately noticeable, for example, the 1998 fires in Mexico and Central America that fouled the air of the southern United States. Environmental degradation can also lead to human flight. The 1999 report of the International Red Cross concluded that the number of people displaced by environmental degradation outstrips the number displaced by political unrest and war.
Environmental degradation contributes significantly to immigration pressures.
The most severely affected by environmental degradation are the poor who live in the most vulnerable environments, often squatting on marginalized areas, which maximizes their exposure to disasters. Consequently, the poor are the greatest victims of environmental degradation, but poverty is one of the most significant forces driving degradation. Rapid population growth makes the challenge more difficult. Although growth rates have dropped, population levels have not yet stabilized. Meeting the needs of a growing population places greater demands on the environment.