Amazon Forest

                                     Amazon Forest

                                           

The Amazon is a vast region that spans across eight rapidly developing countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, an overseas territory of France.

The landscape contains:

·         One in ten known species on Earth

·         1.4 billion acres of dense forests, half of the planet's remaining tropical forests

·         4,100 miles of winding rivers

·         2.6 million square miles in the Amazon basin, about 40% of South America

There is a clear link between the health of the Amazon and the health of the planet. The rain forests, which contain 90-140 billion metric tons of carbon, help stabilize local and global climate. Deforestation may release significant amounts of this carbon, which could have catastrophic consequences around the world.

Regional and global demand for natural resources, including timber and fish, can be met without devastating the environment. We work with agriculture and timber sectors to eliminate waste and increase production efficiency.

We also seek to promote demand for sustainable forest products. WWF engages local indigenous communities and governments to manage protected areas. We also support local communities’ ability to earn a living sustainably. For example, in a protected area in Bolivia, WWF supports training and organic certification for sustainable Brazil nut harvesting.

The Amazon basin is the largest tropical rainforest in the world, covering a size approximately equal to the lower 48 United States. 6-8 million square kilometers of forest house approximately 10% of the world’s biodiversity and 15% of its freshwater. These “lungs of the world” provide ecological services for the planet, but also a source of livelihood for hundred of indigenous groups and forest dependent peoples. Brazil is home to approximately 65% of the Amazon basin (see side graphic).

The forests of the Amazon basin have been used for food and resources for thousands of years by native peoples; products such as rubber, palm fruits, and Brazil nuts, as well as countless medicines have been derived from the forest. In the last centuries, rubber harvest and timber extraction of valuable woods such as mahogany and Spanish cedar penetrated remote areas of the Amazon forest, often via waterways such as the Amazon and Xingu. Beginning in the 1907’s and 80’s, deforestation exploded as highways such as the Trans-Amazonas in Para and the soy highway (BR-163) in Mato Grosso opened up new land to permanent settlement. Since 1970 an estimated 700,000 square kilometers, or 20% of Brazil’s Amazon forest has been cleared. Deforestation levels reached 20,000 square kilometers per year for much of 1980-2005, an area almost the size of Belgium.

Africa when the continents were joined as part of Gondwana. Fifteen million years ago, the Andes were formed by the collision of the South American plate with the Nazca plate. The rise of the Andes and the linkage of the Brazilian and Guyana bedrock shields, blocked the river and caused the Amazon to become a vast inland sea. Gradually this inland sea became a massive swampy, freshwater lake and the marine inhabitants adapted to life in freshwater. For example, over 20 species of stingray, most closely related to those found in the Pacific Ocean, can be found today in the freshwaters of the Amazon.

About ten million years ago, waters worked through the sandstone to the west and the Amazon began to flow eastward. At this time the Amazon rainforest was born. During the Ice Age, sea levels dropped and the great Amazon lake rapidly drained and became a river. Three million years later, the ocean level receded enough to expose the Central American isthmus and allow mass migration of mammal species between the Americas.

The Ice Ages caused tropical rainforest around the world to retreat. Although debated, it is believed that much of the Amazon reverted to savanna and montane forest (see chapter 3-Ice Ages and Glaciation). Savanna divided patches of rainforest into "islands" and separated existing species for periods long enough to allow genetic differentiation (a similar rainforest retreat took place in Africa. Delta core samples suggest that even the mighty Congo watershed was void of rainforest at this time). When the ice ages ended, the forest was again joined and the species that were once one had diverged significantly enough to be constitute designation as separate species, adding to the tremendous diversity of the region. About 6000 years ago, sea levels rose about 130 meters, once again causing the river to be inundated like a long, giant freshwater lake.