Uruguay

Uruguay is a country of grassland: it has no mountains of any size and no rainforest, and its dominant landscape is the pampa, a sea of rolling grassland dotted with low ranges, butiá palm groves and riverside woodland following the courses of the rivers. That apparent uniformity conceals one of the most threatened and least protected ecosystems in the world, with an extremely high diversity of grasses and grassland birds in global decline. In the east, the Bañados del Este form an enormous system of wetlands, coastal lagoons and dunes declared a biosphere reserve, which serves as a wintering ground for migratory birds from both hemispheres. The Atlantic coast combines beaches, rocky points and islands where sea lions gather.