No serious environmental regulation has accompanied booms in agriculture, transportation, or consumption of energy and food resources, which have nearly doubled in the past 20 years. The result has been severe environmental degradation. Clinging to the edge . Slums such as this one outside Lima, Peru have sprung up throughout South America as a result of mass migration to urban areas. Industrial hazards are growing, too.
Miners face environmental risks such as silicosis and exposure to mercury vapor.
In addition, the environmental damage resulting from mine construction leads to increased transmission of malaria. Adjacent ecosystems and human populations are also exposed to mercury released in rivers. South American governments have sought to improve basic services in urban communities. But service providers and their customers are still in a learning curve, and most operate at a deficit. Plus, private and municipal water and wastewater providers, often financially unstable, have little incentive to extend the infrastructure to peripheral slum communities, where investment returns are uncertain.