Amazon Forest

   

 Occupying much of Brazil and Peru, and also parts of Guyana, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Suriname, French Guiana, and Venezuela, the Amazon River Basin is the world’s largest drainage system. The Amazon Basin supports the world’s largest rainforest, which accounts for more than half the total volume of rainforests in the world.

The Amazon covers a huge area (6.7 million sq km) of South America. Nearly 60% of the rainforest is in Brazil, while the rest is shared among eight other countries—Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela and French Guiana, an overseas territory of France.

How long is Amazon :

The Amazon Rainforest stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the tree line of the Andes in the west. The forest widens from a 200-mile (320-km) front along the Atlantic to a belt 1,200 miles (1,900 km) wide at the Andean foothills. Brazil holds approximately 60 percent of the Amazon within its borders.

South America’s Amazon contains nearly a third of all the tropical rainforests left on Earth. Despite covering only around 1% of the planet’s surface, the Amazon rainforest is home to 10% of all the wildlife species we know about – and probably a lot that we don’t know yet. It is the stronghold of jaguars and river dolphins, with over 70% of jaguars living in the Amazon. This place is the main hope for the species' long term survival.

Our research shows that, on average, a 'new' species of animal or plant is being discovered in the Amazon every other day. However, tragically, because huge parts of the rainforest are being destroyed so fast, we may never know all the riches it holds.

The Amazon is of vital importance because people around the world, as well as locally, depend on the rainforest. Not just for food, water, wood and medicines, but to help stabilise the climate—150-200 billion tons of carbon is stored in the Amazon rainforest. The trees in the Amazon also release 20 billion tonnes of water into the atmosphere per day, playing a critical role in global and regional carbon and water cycles.

The Amazon rainforest has long been recognized as a repository of ecological services not only for local tribes and communities, but also for the rest of the world. It is also the only rainforest that we have left in terms of size and diversity.

The Amazon Rainforest is the largest tropical rainforest in the world, covering approximately 5.5 million square kilometres.

It is home to an incredible diversity of plant and animal species, with estimates ranging from 400,000 to 2.5 million species.

The rainforest plays a crucial role in regulating the Earth's climate by absorbing vast amounts of carbon dioxide.

It is often referred to as the "Lungs of the Earth" due to its production of 20% of the world's oxygen.