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Amazon: Amazon Rainforest
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The Amazon rainforest is the biggest forest in the world and is ... the last big space covered with tropical plants and animals. The Amazon forest territory is a tropical rainforest that is located in the north side of the South American continent and is shared by 9 countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Suriname, French Guiana and Guiana. Travel through the forest can be difficult, and a guide or a river tour are the best options to see the natural wonders of the rain forest.
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The Amazon is home to a variety of Indian cultures who have a great deal of knowledge about the rich and complex rainforest environment. As settlement brings changes to the forest, these cultural groups are ... changing, and the lessons they have gained through thousands of years of living within the rainforest are in danger of being lost. Scientists are trying to learn from the Amazon's native peoples about the amazing variety of rainforest plants and animals before they become extinct. Rainforest plants and animals may hold cures to diseases and provide information and materials valuable to people around the world.
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The Ecuadorian Amazon region commonly known as "el Oriente" is formed by the following sparsly populated provinces, from north to south: Sucumbios, Napo, Orellana, Pastaza, Morona Santiago and Zamora Chinchipe. Although the Oriente covers almost half of the surface of Ecuador, only 4.8% of the population live in this vast area, which despite frantic deforestation still remains covered by tropical rainforest. Sustainable tourism, providing and increasing local income, helps to put a stop to the deforestation, which is one of the main threats of the region with a rate of 2.3%, 250'000 ha/year.
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In Ecuadorian courts, Chevron (formerly Texaco) is accused of intentionally dumping 18 billon gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon rainforest during the 28 years (1964 to 1992) it operated an oil concession there. Thousands of people are considered at risk of developing cancer, and four indigenous groups report they are on the verge of extinction in areas of the rainforest where Chevron operated.
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In 1996, the Amazon was reported to have shown a 34% increase in deforestation since 1992[23]. The mean annual deforestation rate from 2000 to 2005 (22,392 km² per year) was 18% higher than in the previous five years (19,018 km² per year) [24]. In Brazil, the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE, or National Institute of Space Research) produces deforestation figures annually. Their deforestation estimates are derived from 100 to 220 images taken during the dry season in the Amazon by the Landsat satellite... may only consider the loss of the Amazon rainforest biome – not the loss of natural fields or savannah within the rainforest. According to INPE, the original Amazon rainforest biome in Brazil of 4,100,000 km² was reduced to 3,403,000 km² by 2005 – representing a loss of 17.1% [25].
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Between May 2000 and August 2005, Brazil lost more than 132,000 square kilometers of forest—an area larger than Greece—and since 1970, over 600,000 square kilometers (232,000 square miles) of Amazon rainforest have been destroyed. Why is Brazil losing so much forest? What can be done to slow deforestation?
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Amazon Rainforest