The Orinoco Delta, Venezuela's youngest geological area at just one million years old, has been added to the network of 544 biosphere reserves of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). UNESCO considers the delta “an accumulator of organic material that slows the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere,” Environment Ministry official Guido Pereira told Tierramérica.

“Also of value is the presence in that area for the last 7,000 years of the Warao indigenous peoples,” made up of some 30,000 people, including fishing and gathering communities that live in stilt houses and travel by canoe through the mangroves of Venezuela's northeast.

The government “should draw up a plan for regulation and use of this area,” said Pereira.