The Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical rainforest in the world. It is home to at least 10% of the world’s known biodiversity, including endemic and endangered species. And its river is about 15-16% of the world. The Amazon River flows for more than 6,600 km to release into the ocean, and its hundreds of tributaries and streams contain the world’s largest number of freshwater fish species.
Mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles found throughout the biosphere are innumerable and fascinating. Amazon is home to more than 30 million people living across a vast territory divided into nine different national political systems.
According to a local organization coordinator in the Amazon Basin (Koika), 9% (2.7 million) of Amazon’s population is still aboriginal. 350 different ethnic groups, more than 60 of which are still isolated. However, due to its size and remoteness, the Amazon Biome is surprisingly fragile and close to all of us.
Over the past half-century, the endless Amazon rainforest has lost at least 17% of its forest cover. Its connection to it has become more and more intense. Many of its endemic species have been subjected to waves of resource exploitation. The economic transformation based on the natural habitat transformation and degradation of the Amazon is accelerating. However, as those forces grow, we see Amazon playing a critical role in sustaining regional and global climate activism, on which all the rich and the poor depend.
The Amazon canopy cover helps regulate temperature and humidity and is intricately linked to regional climatic patterns through forest-dependent hydrological cycles. Because of the huge amount of carbon stored in the Amazon rainforest, it has the potential to change the global climate if not properly managed. This forest contains 90-140 billion metric tons of carbon. Releasing part or all of it will significantly accelerate global warming. Currently, deforestation and deforestation release up to 0.5 billion metric tons of carbon annually, making Amazon an important factor in global climate regulation, including emissions from forest fires.
