Where is the Amazon rainforest located?
The Amazon rainforest is located in South America.
faqs/How big is the Amazon rainforest?
The area of the Amazon is equivalent to that of the 48 United States. In 2020, the forests covered about 634 million hectares, of which about 529 million hectares were classified as primary forests.
Faqs/Where does the Amazon rainforest rank in terms of size among tropical forests?
The Amazon is the largest rainforest on Earth. The Congo is the 2nd largest tropical rainforest in the world.
Faqs/What countries make up the Amazon rainforest?
The Amazon comprises parts of eight South American countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname, as well as French Guiana, a department of France.
Who owns the Amazon rainforest?
The Amazon is present in several countries. In these countries, the land may be privately owned, owned by indigenous peoples in legally recognized territories, collectively owned or controlled by the government, as national parks or public lands.
What is the Amazon rainforest called?
The Amazon rainforest gets its name from the Amazon River, known as Rio Amazonas in Spanish and Portuguese. “Amazonas” comes from an ancient Greek myth about a tribe of powerful warriors. Francisco de Orellana gave the river its name after an attack on his expedition in the 16th century by long-haired Indians. The attack was carried out by women or men with long hair, which gave rise to the name.
Who lives in the Amazon rainforest?
The Amazon has a long heritage of human occupation. Today, millions of people live in cities and towns in the Amazon. This urban population is much larger than those living in remote villages and communities. However, there are still traditional indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation deep in the jungle. Find out more about the inhabitants of the Amazon rainforest.
Is the Amazon rainforest really the lungs of the Earth?
The Amazon rainforest is often called the “lungs of the planet” for its role in absorbing carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and releasing vapor into the atmosphere through the mechanism of transpiration. Tropical forests produce oxygen during the day through photosynthesis and absorb it at night through respiration. Therefore, they are not a major net source of oxygen in the atmosphere.
What is the cause of fires in the Amazon?
Fires in the Amazon are usually the result of natural ignition sources, such as lightning, or intentional human actions. Human activities are worsening the conditions that allow fires to move from dry areas – such as farms, pastures and deforested forests – to tropical rainforests.
What animals live in the Amazon?
The Amazon is home to more plant and animal species than any other terrestrial ecosystem on the planet: perhaps 30% of the world’s species are found here. Everything from jaguars to tapirs and bats, from parrots to hummingbirds, from poison dart frogs to anacondas, from leaf-cutter ants to blue morpho butterflies, from stingrays to piranhas, monkeys too,to name just a small selection of known animals.
Why don’t we buy the Amazon?
The countries that control the Amazon are sovereign nations. While it is possible to buy some land for conservation, trying to buy the entire Amazon is impossible. In general, the most effective conservation strategies in the region involve recognizing the territorial rights of indigenous peoples and ensuring that indigenous populations take advantage of measures to protect and promote sustainable development.
What can we do to prevent the Amazon from burning?
Fires in the Amazon are often the result of government policies regulating land use, enforcement of environmental laws and corporate guidelines for the supply of commodities. Encouraging landowners to manage fires carefully can greatly reduce the likelihood of agricultural fires in tropical forests.
Why are forest fires getting worse?
Deforestation and forest degradation increase the vulnerability of tropical forests to fire by drying out their interior. At the same time, climate change is increasing the incidence of drought in the Amazon basin. When farmers, ranchers and land speculators start fires, they can easily spread to the rainforest.
What is the environmental impact of forest fires in the Amazon?
Forest fires threaten biodiversity through habitat destruction. Fires also release significant amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, cause local and regional air pollution, and can even influence rainfall patterns.
Why is the Amazon rainforest important?
The Amazon rainforest helps stabilize the global climate by sequestering carbon; supports plant and animal species; helps maintain the water cycle, including the generation of rainfall at local, regional and transcontinental scales; is a source of food, fiber, fuel and medicine; sustains the people who depend on the rainforest, including indigenous tribes living in voluntary isolation from the rest of humanity; and provides recreational, spiritual and cultural value.
How much of the Amazon rainforest has been destroyed?
Since 1950, just under 20% of the Amazon rainforest has been cleared. Learn about deforestation trends in the Amazon and the current rate of deforestation in the region.
Is the Amazon rainforest dangerous?
There are many animals potentially dangerous to humans, from venomous snakes to electric eels and jaguars, among other vertebrates. However, it is the little things that often pose the greatest risks: mosquitoes, disease-transmitting viruses and bacteria, and biting ants. And let’s not forget humans: violence against environmental defenders and indigenous peoples is a major problem in the Amazon.
Why is the Amazon rainforest in danger?
Accelerating deforestation, forest degradation and drought in the Amazon are of great concern to scientists, who warn that the entire biome could be approaching a tipping point where large areas of rainforest could transition to tropical dry forests and savannas. This transition could have dramatic consequences for regional rainfall, as the intertropical convergence zone could shift northward, leading to drier conditions in the breadbasket of South America and in major urban areas. According to the researchers, the impact on regional economies could be significant, while the impact on ecosystem function and biodiversity in the Amazon could be devastating.