The interpretation of this America from the outside as a vast storehouse of resources is widespread, and even with the digital revolution, a new category could be added to this storehouse, incorporating more factors of production such as human talent, social capital, cognitive capital, and intellectual capital. It's a storehouse that many believe they have a legitimate right to access, just as they did 500 years ago. Hence the allusions to viewing this part of the continent as property rather than as habitat, ecosystems, civilizations, nations, cultures, or original inhabitants.
They came to regard its inhabitants not as others but as things, objects or means of utilitarian value.
Three words connected in one expression are used to frame the present reflection: “Abundance with scarcity and a great responsibility”, as a result of the documentary review carried out, this expression will be alternatively called the “Paradox of the America of Here”.
A general overview at a glance
1. Territory: 20 million km2, 1,18 times Russia, ~2 times the USA, China and Canada, 4,75 times the EU.
2. Population (estimated): 672 million inhabitants, 8,1% of the world's population, almost three times less than the population of China and India, almost double the population of the United States, 1,5 times the population of the EU.
3. Non-mineral natural resources: 40% of the world's biodiversity, 6 of the 17 megadiverse countries. The region has more endemic species than the combined total of the 8 largest countries. Latin America and the Caribbean maintains 50% of the world's tropical forests. (September 24, 2025, JP Morgan)
4. Water Resources: It has 33% of the planet's renewable freshwater, three times more than the EU, with a water supply per person four times higher than the world average. UNDP estimates indicate that by 2050, 1.1 billion people in 31 countries will lack access to safe drinking water. (Ibid) and (March 18, 2015, World Bank)
5. Agricultural land: 664,7 million hectares (ha), 33% of the total area. The world's agricultural land is 4,8 billion ha, 37% of the total world area, almost three times less than Asia and Africa, 20% more than China, 40% more than the United States, and 5 times more than the EU. Of this, 178,9 million ha are cropland—arable and for permanent crops—a little more than a quarter of the agricultural land, almost a third of Asia and half of Africa, but 10% more than the United States, 30% more than China, and 40% more than the EU. (FAOSTAT data 2022)
6. Energy Resources: Excluding the United States, the Americas have more oil reserves than the other seven largest economies in the world combined. Venezuela, which ranks first, has more than three times the reserves of the United States. (June 11, 2026, Vajiraman). In terms of gas, the region has 4% of the world's proven reserves, concentrated in Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, and Trinidad and Tobago, in that order. These reserves are underexploited, according to experts. Proportionally, they are half the size of the United States, slightly larger than China's, and more than seven times the size of the EU's.
65% of its energy mix comes from renewable sources, primarily hydroelectric, with wind and solar power on the rise. This is significantly cleaner than China, India, and the EU.
7. Critical minerals and mining. 40% of copper reserves and 60% of lithium are in this part of America. (14-1-2026, JP Morgan).
It produces 50% of the world's silver and 10 times more gold than the EU.
Brazil, along with China, Australia, Russia, and Vietnam, holds 90% of the world's rare earth reserves; China accounts for almost 70% of production, followed by the United States with 13%. (US Geological Survey Mineral Commodity Summaries: Rare Earths 2026). Brazil's estimated reserves of 11 million tons could add up to 10 million tons to the region's total based on deposits found in Chile and Argentina. Peru is also projected to be a significant rare earth reserve. Experts recommend that the region's governments be cautious regarding the export of these minerals. Instead, they recommend developing supply chains, including the value chain for battery production, wind turbines, and even the value chain for electric vehicle magnets.
Latin America is an exporter of iron only surpassed by China and India. (2-3-2926, Dalogue Earth)
Abundance and scarcity, for whom and for what purpose?
It all depends on where you look at it and by whom. An abundance exists because it exceeds a demand, but whose demand? If it's from the country where the resources are located, this could be for two reasons: because it doesn't need them, its way of life is different, or because it doesn't yet have the technology to transform them into goods and services, resulting in profits or well-being.
So, what is the scarcity the paradox refers to? Is it a shortage of raw materials from other countries to meet the demand of the country and its customers? This perception of scarcity of these resources comes from outside. Here, another contradiction can arise, for example, selling your oil and gas only to import their derivatives.
Indigenous peoples had gold and silver in abundance, in relation to the use and value they gave it, that is, in relation to their internal demand, to their way of life.
Kiyosaki says that the buyer always wins, the seller always has high expectations and is willing to bid downwards or, on the contrary, is in no hurry; this could be the exception to that rule.
What responsibility lies behind this abundance?
Planning, managing, and preventing environmental, social, economic, cultural, and political impacts would seem to be the most appropriate recommendation, including caution, to resolve the paradox of "America Here."
The future of Latin America lies in integration; it is a powerhouse due to its resources, which have made it the epicenter of interest for the world's major technological and economic powers.
If the governments, businesses, investors, and people of our countries do not promote integration in practice through economic, industrialization, and research and development projects, the opportunity to reap the greatest benefits for our people will be lost; if, instead, everyone continues on their own, fragmented and atomized, others will decide on that integration, on their own terms.
We have not noticed that the America here is a whole America, within the ethnic, cultural, and linguistic pluriversity; the richness of ecosystems and resources; and the current complex problems.
The proposals for ventures and large structuring projects must be situated (space and subjects), must have shared visions of short, long and medium term and be designed to create a structural network of value chains that integrate the macro, intermediate and micro economy, from bottom to top, from top to bottom, that generates the necessary confidence for the participation of investors and industrial and technological partners from the region and abroad.
This series concludes here, but it does not exhaust the topic or the debate.
