Five things to know about Amazon
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| Salvador, Brazil |
Salvador, Brazil At 5.5 million square kilometers, the Amazon is the largest rainforest on Earth. It is a biosphere reserve, but due to deforestation mostly caused by mining, livestock, and agricultural operations, it is also under risk.
Biodiversity Conservation Area
- Brazil
- Bolivia
- Peru
- Ecuador
- Colombia
- Venezuela
- Guyana
- Suriname
- Guyana (France)
About 60% of its surface is located in Brazil.
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| The Amazon River Basin |
The forest, of which 2.1 million square metres are protected, is home to the world's most diverse wildlife.
A quarter of the species in the world are present there, that is, about 30,000 species of plants, 2,500 species of fish, 1,500 species of birds, 500 species of mammals.
According to the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (OTCA), 550 species of reptiles and 2.5 million species of insects.
Since 1999, more than 2200 species of plants and animals have been discovered there.
"The Lungs of the Planet"
The Amazon also contains a third of the planet's primary forest, and thanks to the Amazon River and its tributaries, it has frozen 20% of its fresh water.
The Amazon is the most important river in the world and the longest (6900 km).
As a carbon sink, forests absorb more CO2 than they emit:
it stores 90 to 140 billion tons of CO2, which helps control global warming worldwide, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
But this capacity to absorb CO2 is decreasing due to deforestation.
420 levels
Home to at least 11,000 years, the Amazon today has 34 million inhabitants, two-thirds of which are city dwellers.
According to ACTO, about three million Indians form about 420 castes. About 60 of them live in complete isolation.
Amazonian Indians speak 86 languages and 650 dialects. According to the NGO Survival International, the largest tribe in the Amazon is the Ticuna, 40,000 people, living in Brazil, Peru and Colombia.
Raoni Metuktire, the Brazilian Indian leader of the Kayapo tribe, is a key player in the fight against deforestation in the Amazon.
He has traveled the world since 1989 to conserve forests and local people.
Manaus, the "capital" of the Amazon
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| Manaus, Brazil |
Manaus is the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas, the largest state in the country (1.5 million km2).
The city of 1.8 million people was founded by the Portuguese in 1669 on the banks of the Rio Negro near its confluence with the Amazon.
After rapid growth in the late 19th century due to the rubber trade, Manaus experienced a significant decline until the establishment of the free zone in 1967.
Today, it lives mainly on the field. The industry imports parts and exports finished products, including electronic equipment.
After Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, it is the third industrial center of the country.
Massive deforestation
According to WWF, about 20% of the Amazon rainforest has disappeared in 50 years. And the event is accelerating.
In Brazil, under climate skeptic Jair Bolsonaro since January, deforestation in July was nearly four times higher than in July 2018, according to its 'real-time deforestation detection' system DETER. used by the National Space Research Institute. (INPE).
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The state agency responsible for measuring deforestation in the Amazon said 2,254 km² of forest was cleared in Brazil last month, up 278% from 596.6 km² in July 2018.
The main causes of deforestation are agriculture (soybeans), animal husbandry, construction of hydroelectric dams and road infrastructure, mining industry, forest fires and timber trade.
Deforestation and land clearing are in turn fueling wildfire outbreaks, with some states in the Amazon, such as Mato Grosso (Middle west), experiencing 80% more fires since the beginning of the year than at the same time in 2018 has increased.
Amazon hosts many resources. Gold, copper, tantalum, iron ore, nickel, manganese.