Belgium

> **Impacts on Species ** > || **Competition: ** || likely || > || **Disease transmission: ** || likely || > || **Genetic effects: ** || low |
 * Belgium is located in Western Europe, bordered by the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, France, and the North Sea. The coastal region, extending about 10–30 mi inland, consists of sand dunes, flat pasture land, and polders, and attains a maximum of 50 ft above sea level. Has an average altitude of about 1500 feet.
 * Parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarch. Under the 1994 constitution, autonomy was granted to the Walloon region (Wallonia), the Flemish region (Flanders), and the bilingual Brussels-Capital region; autonomy was also guaranteed for the Flemish-, French-, and German-speaking “communities.” The central government retains responsibility for foreign policy, defense, taxation, and social security. The hereditary monarch, at present Albert II, is the head of state and is officially called King of the Belgians.
 * There are three Regions. The names of the three regional institutions are borrowed from the name of the territory they represent. So we refer to (from north to south) the Flemish Region, the Brussels-Capital Region and the Walloon Region.
 * There are three official languages: Dutch, French, and German.
 * The population 10,431,477.
 * This is a most developed country, because it had been fairly industrial and has a declining population growth.
 * The Belgian climate, like most of northwest Europe,is maritime temperate, with significant precipitation in all seasons, 3 °C (37.4 °F) in January, and 18 °C (64.4 °F) in July; the average precipitation is 65 mm (2.6 in) in January, and 78 mm (3.1 in) in July).[|[4]] Belgium has mild winters and cool summers and is rainy, humid and cloudy
 * Belgium has a declining rate of growth
 * The doubling time of Belgium is 693 years, being much slower than the rest of the world.
 * The birth rate is 10.06 births per 1,000. The death rate is 10.56 per 1,000. Net Emmigration = 9.57 per 1,000 and Net Immigration = 3.56 per 1,000. Since the death rate and emmigration rate is higher than the birth and immigration, it complies with the rate of growth, which is decling.
 * Post Industrial demographic transition
 * Family planning is not regulated by government, but obviously some sort of family planning is in use, seeing as the population growth is declining.
 * Belgium is mostly temperate deciduous forest.
 * The aquatic biomes within the country are the North Sea, the Meuse River, the Rhine river, and the Schedlt river.
 * The human impact on aquatic biomes... The resources of the North Sea increasingly have been exploited as the level of the western European economy has risen. The volume of shipping to the sea’s bordering countries has grown steadily, thereby generating problems not only of navigation but also of pollution from operational discharges as well as from accidents. Land-based pollution, including the dumping of sewage and industrial wastes, is also a serious problem, particularly in the southern part of the North Sea. Over the years, the coastal countries of the North Sea have concluded international agreements designed to attack such issues as the dumping of hazardous wastes at sea, the discharge from land of certain toxic materials, and the incineration of wastes at sea. Nonetheless, enforcement powers are limited, and pollution remains a critical issue in certain parts of the sea.
 * The human impact on forest...The forest contains a somewhat reduced fauna and flora. Due to human influence and impoverishment of the ecosystem various plants and animals have become extinct. The forest was home to 46 different mammal species. Of these seven have disappeared altogether
 * The brown bear, the wolf, the hazel dormouse, the Red Deer, the badger and the hare have all disappeared from forest in Belgium.
 * These species are all becoming extinct due to human influence, habitat destruction and hunting.
 * INTRODUCTED SPECIES
 * **Raccoon dog **
 * **Predation / Herbivory: ** || high ||

> || **Physical alteration: ** || low || > || **<span style="color: #5a524e; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Natural successions: ** || <span style="color: #5a524e; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">low || > || **<span style="color: #5a524e; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Food web alteration: ** || <span style="color: #5a524e; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">likely || >
 * <span style="color: #963f28; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Impacts on Ecosystems **
 * **<span style="color: #5a524e; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Nutrient cycling: ** || <span style="color: #5a524e; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">low ||
 * <span style="color: #4d4d4d; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Brown rat ||**
 * **<span style="color: #963f28; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Impacts on Species ** ||
 * || **<span style="color: #5a524e; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Nutrient cycling: ** || <span style="color: #5a524e; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">likely ||
 * **<span style="color: #5a524e; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Physical alteration: ** || <span style="color: #5a524e; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">medium ||
 * **<span style="color: #5a524e; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Natural successions: ** || <span style="color: #5a524e; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">likely ||
 * **<span style="color: #5a524e; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Food web alteration: ** || <span style="color: #5a524e; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">likely ||  ||

construction materials, silica sand and carbonates Belgium's natural resources are limited to coal and natural gas. The country has 161 km of crude oil pipelines, 1,167 km of petroleum product pipelines, and 3,300 km of natural gas pipelines. Due to the fact that it has so little natural resources, the country has to import large amounts of raw materials.
 * TOP THREE RESOURCES...

> **De Zoom – Kalmthoutse Heide** Bechstein's Bat .... removal of deciduous woodland throughout the whole country
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Sugar, tea & nuclear fuels are fastest-growing Belgian exports to the U.S. while organic chemicals & pharmaceutical preparations lead American imports into Belgium
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Belgium has two national parks **Hoge Kempen National Park**
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">There are 2 main trends in Belgian agriculture. The first is the disappearance of the small family farm. Farming is increasingly dominated by large **agribusinesses** . Over the past 3 decades, the number of small farms has decreased by 80 percent. The second major trend is the expanding output of the sector. New technologies and scientific crop research have combined to produce greater yields. Therefore, even if farmers' total acreage declines, they are still producing more. Between 1995 and 1999, crop production increased by 9 percent. Agriculture in Belgium is mainly divided between crop production and raising livestock.
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">The nation's main crops include barley, corn, potatoes, sugar beets, wheat, and assorted fruits and vegetables. Sugar beets, potatoes, and barley are the main staples. In 1999, the country produced 6.15 million metric tons of sugar beets, 2.7 million metric tons of potatoes, and 1.63 million tons of wheat. The country is self-sufficient in sugar, and exports certain vegetables and fruits. About 35 percent of Belgium's farms are engaged in crop production. Belgium also **re-exports** a number of fruits. For instance, bananas are imported into Belgium from the Caribbean and then exported throughout Europe. The nation also imports raw crops, processes them, and then exports them as prepared foods.
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Food resources are not scarce in Belgium as they are in the least developed countries, although hunger is all over the world, majority of the people in Belgium get the food resources they need.
 * Water supply and sanitation in Belgium is provided by a large variety of organizations: Most of the 589 municipalities of Belgium have delegated the responsibility for water supply and sanitation to regional or inter-municipal utilities. There are more than 62 water supply utilities, including 2 regional, 30 inter-municipal and 30 municipal utilities. Another 100 mostly small municipalities provide services directly without having a legally of financially separate entity for water supply.
 * Water is not scarce in Belgium and water supply is generally continuous and of good quality
 * ENDANGERED SPECIES IN BELGIUM <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">**EUROPEAN RABBIT**....Due to the huge population strength of the European rabbits, they are a serious challenge to the agricultural crops and environment. Between 1950’s and 1960’s the rabbits were purposely infected with the virus of the disease of myxomatosis to reduce their population. The attempt threatened the species seriously and they became endangered
 * **Beluga**... pollution is proving to be a significant health danger <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Unregulated hunting has been in the main cause of their decline
 * The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) aims to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival and is actively used to protect species in Belgium.