The Amazon is at risk of reaching an irreversible tipping point. Between 1985 and 2021, the Amazon lost an area of rainforest and other native vegetation equivalent to three times the size of the UK. The pressures on the Amazon are intensifying.We need to act now. Without the Amazon, we lose the fight against climate change.
Ways to help the Amazon
Living Amazon Report 2022
© Kanindé
Why is the Amazon rainforest important
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.
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 is under siege like never before. Deforestation and fires remain dangerously high, and protected areas and Indigenous lands face increasing threats. It needs our help more than ever. We cannot tackle the climate crisis without the Amazon’s vital life-sustaining role.
"We are only at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to unveiling the incredible species that live in the Amazon and understanding the vital role it plays in helping regulate our climate. Despite some important conservation successes, the Amazon faces greater threats than ever before. We need to act fast to protect this life-sustaining treasure for the millions of species and people that depend on it."
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The Amazon Rainforest Location
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.
About the Amazon
This vast untamed wilderness is under increasing threat from huge-scale farming and ranching,infrastructure and urban development, unsustainable logging, mining and climate change.
Just three quick facts to give you an idea of what’s at stake here:
1) The Amazon has more species of primate than anywhere else on Earth.
2) You can find more types of ant on one tree in the Amazon than you can in some whole countries.
3) 47 million people live in the Amazon, including around 2.2 million Indigenous people, speaking around 300 different languages.
We’re so determined to help protect the Amazon, for the benefit of its people and for the planet as a whole. Your help will be vital.
Wildlife that live in the Amazon
The Amazon river contains more than twice as many types of fish than any other river – and there are hundreds of thousands of different plants and animals in the Amazon rainforest.
Challenges facing the Amazon
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More about climate change
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More about forest loss and damage
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More about sustainable food
Success Story
Heritage Colombia
In 2022 the Colombian Government with partners that include WWF, launched the implementation phase of Heritage Colombia – an initiative aimed at the protection of 32 million hectares of protected landscapes and seascapes, with an innovative, long-term funding mechanism called Project Finance for Permanence which brings together the private sector, civil society and the government to preserve natural capital in perpetuity.
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