For my Environmental Science Project, I choose to research the country Nicaragua, and its environmental issues. Nicaragua is a beautiful country, and one filled with natural beauty, heritage, and culture. I choose to research Nicaragua because my grandparents were from there, and I already had a background on the country. I thought it would be more interesting to explore its environmental issues. 

 

Nicaragua is located on the North American continent, in Central America. Honduras borders to the North, and Costa Rica to the South. The Caribbean Sea lies to the East, and the Pacific ocean to the West. Here are some fast facts about Nicaragua according to the CIA Factbook; Nicaragua’s population is about 6 million and the form of government is Republic, which means the power is held by the people who elect leaders to represent them( the United States is also a Republic).The capital of Nicaragua is the city Managua which is the third largest city in Central America, with a population a little under 2 million! Nicaragua’s official language is Spanish and the area of Nicaragua 80.78 square miles (130,370 square kilometers). To give you a better idea, Nicaragua is slightly smaller than the state of New York. Even though its only the size of one of the US states, it is the largest country in Central America!

 

 

Some distinctive geographical features are lake Nicaragua, which is the largest freshwater lake in Nicaragua, Lake Managua (second largest lake), and the three Geographical Regions. They are Pacific Lowlands, Central Highlands, and Caribbean Lowlands.The climate in Nicaragua is tropical, and its tropical forests are bursting with bio-diversity. According to Living National Treasures, Nicaragua’s holds a approximately 130 endemic species (in other words species found only in Nicaragua). A few examples include Richmond’s squirrel, Nicaraguan Rice Rat, Mombacho Salamander to name a few.