General summary Latin America and the Caribbean

The 32 countries of the study area have been grouped for the into eight subregions, taking into account the similarities in their geographic and socio-economic conditions. Brazil and Mexico were treated as single subregions in view of the importance of their irrigation in respect to the total area of the region. The sub-regions are: Mexico, Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama), Greater Antilles (Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and Dominican Republic), Lesser Antilles (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Granada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Santa Lucia, San Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago), Guyana Subregion (Suriname and Guyana), Andean Subregion (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela) Brazil and Southern Subregion (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay).

This section briefly presents the particularities which can be observed at national and regional level, as well as trends which emerge from the information which was collected. The section is divided into the following sub-sections:

	Geography, climate and population
	Water resources
	Water withdrawal
	Irrigation
	Drainage, flood control and environmental and health issues
	Trends in irrigation and drainage
	Thematic maps