Andean Region

The potato is a basic food crop in the Andean region of South America, and is an important cash crop in many other sections of Latin America. The investment necessary to produce a crop is considerably higher than in the case of corn, wheat, or beans, and the potato grower is correspondingly more interested in protecting this investment wherever diseases or insects are likely to be a problem. 

If only the area under coca cultivation is considered, a small decline by 2 per cent to 157,000 hectares was reported for the year 2006. As compared to the year 2000, the area under coca cultivation in the Andean region declined by 29 per cent in Colombia, it fell by as much as 52 per cent. This progress was, however, not translated into a decline of global cocaine production, due to improved yields and production techniques. Global cocaine production is estimated to have remained basically unchanged in 2006 as compared to a year earlier or two years earlier. Following a revision of yield estimates, global production is now estimated at 984 mt. A decline in Colombia (-5 %) was compensated by increases reported from Bolivia (+18%) and Peru (+8%). 

The main trafficking route still runs from the Andean region to North America... 

The world s main cocaine trafficking routes continue to run from the Andean region, notably Colombia, to the USA. More than half of Colombia s seizures take place in the ports or at sea (56 per cent in 2005) 63 per cent of the maritime seizures on the Pacific coast and 37 per cent on the Atlantic coast4. In 2005, increasing amounts appear to have left Colombia via Venezuela and Ecuador. According to the US Interagency Assessment... 

Other important transit countries from the Andean region to Europe are Venezuela, Ecuador and Brazil, and less frequently, the Netherlands Antilles, Suriname, Argentina, Panama and Costa Rica.29 30 Some of these countries also reported dismantling cocaine laboratories (notably Venezuela and Argentina), which could indicate that they are not only transit, but also cocaine manufacturing countries. 

The information in this section comes from the report on Coca Cultivation in the Andean Region (UNODC/Governments of Bolivia, Colombia and Peru, 2007), and can also be found on the internet (http //www.unodc.org/en/crop monitoring.html). 

International (U.S. Support for Plan Colombia and the Andean Region) 954.4 ... 

The relationship between alkalinity and FSS concentration and Andean source waters was expected because > 80% of suspended materials and dissolved solids in transport in the Amazon are derived from Andean regions (Gibbs 1972, Stallard 1980, Meade et al. 1985). Although the Andes are also the dominant source of CSS, its seasonal cycle is tied more to the river surface slope than the percent Andean water. In fact, the seasonal pattern of river slope has a nearly identical shape to CSS concentration (Devol et al. 1995). Deposition occurs during periods of low slope (low turbulence), whereas resuspension predominates during high slope (Meade et al. 1985). This changing balance would also explain the relationships between coarse particulate... 

The Amazon basin comprises an area of about 6.4 millions km, extending between the Guyana Shield to the north and the Brazilian Shield to the south with the Andean and sub-Andean regions to the west. 

Chenopodium species are used either as whole plants or parts of the plant. There is great diversity in plants and inflorescences (Mujica and Jacobsen, 2006). The genus Chenopodium includes about 250 species (Bhargava et al, 2005). Quinoa is an annual plant found in the Andean region of South America, between sea level and the heights of the Bolivian Altiplano at around 4000 m above sea level. It produces flat, oval-shaped seeds that are usually pale yellow but can range in color from pink... 

The shaman smoking a pipe is a great curandero from the Sierra [Andean region]. Behind him is the vine lucero ayahuasca, with human faces on its stem, the spirits who teach the mysteries of this sacred plant. 

I. Ramirez, M. Cruz and J. Varea, Endemic cretinism in the Andean region New methodological approaches, "Cassava toxicity and thyroid research and public health issues", F. Delange, R. Ahluwalia eds.. International Development Research Center Publ., Ottawa (1983),... 

Ramirez I. Cruz M, Varea J. Endemic cretinism in the Andean region new methodological approaches. In Delange F, Ahluwalia R. Eds. Cassava toxicity and thyroid research and public health issues. Ottowa IDRC. 1983 73-76. 

Endemic goiter and endemic cretinism in the Andean region, N. Engl, J. Med, 6 296 (1969),... 

Ramirez, I, R Fierro-Benitez, E Estrella, C Jaramillo, C Diaz, and J Urresta, Iodized oil in the prevention of endemic goiter and associated defects in the Andean region of Ecuador II Effects on neuro-motor development and somatic growth in children before two years, Endemic Goiter, J B Stanbury, Ed, PAHO... 

Ramirez I., Cruz M., Varea J. Endemic Cretinism in the Andean Region ... 

Certain species of potatoes that are cultivated in Andean regions of South America are also known to contain larger amounts of these alkaloids than are found in the usual Solarium tuberosum cultivars. Plants of S. X ajanhuiri are culti-... 

Manilkara zapota (family Sapotaceae) This is distributed in South-East Andean region it contains a sweetener and can be used in chewing gum. 

Ismene Salisb. ex Herb (10 species) Central Andean region... 

This chapter shows clearly that endemism in Acanthaceae, Asclepiadaceae and Labiatae in Bolivia is a significant phenomenon, with 116 out of a total of 437 accepted species (nearly 27%) in these three families endemic to the country. Endanism is concentrated in the Andean region, where 97 of the 116 endemic species are found. Within the Andean region, the dry valleys are especially rich in endmism, with 53 of the 97 Andean endemics, or almost 55%, found in the dry valleys. This last figure should be treated with some caution because of the inclusion of plants from transitional zones. However, it can safely be asserted that the dry Andean valleys are at least as important as centres of endenusm as the moister valleys. 

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