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The
South-East Pacific region spans the entire length of the Pacific
coast of South America from Panama to Cape Horn, encompassing
tropical, sub-tropical, temperate and subantarctic systems.
In spite of this astounding diversity, the region's five countries (Chile, Peru,
Ecuador, Colombia and Panama) find themselves united by two overwhelming natural
phenomena known as Large Marine Ecosystems: that dominated by the cold, nutrient-rich
Humboldt Current-with the largest upwelling system in the world supporting on
e of the world's most productive fishing grounds-and that of the Eastern Equatorial
Pacific.
However, the region is under threat from coastal and marine degradation by land-based
and marine-based sources of pollution and other forms of environmental degradation.
In addition, the region is regularly disrupted by the El Niño-Southern
Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon, which originates in the equatorial Pacific, producing
dramatic upheavals in local, and ultimately global, climatic conditions.
El Niño influences everything from the weather to marine ecosystems
to human livelihoods, and its enormous social and economic impacts are felt
around the world.
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