Amazon Rainforest
Selena Harris
What is the amazon rainforest?
The Amazon rainforest is a moist, broadleaf forest and it covers 7 million square kilometers (or 1.7 billion acres).
Fun facts:
10% of the world’s known species live in the Amazon rainforest.
20% of the world’s bird species live in the Amazon rainforest.
It is home to around 2 and a half million different insect species as well as over 40,000 plant species.
There are also a number of dangerous species living in the Amazon rainforest such as the cougar, jaguar and anaconda.
Anaconda
Raflesia
Gorilla
The difference between harm and protection
What’s truly amazing, however, is that while the amazon/tropical rainforest covers just 2% of the Earth's land surface, they are home to two-thirds of all the living species on the planet. The animal diversity has dramatically decreased because we are killing their habitat. A wide range of animals are dying due to habitat loss so why not preserve what little of it we have that could potentially save thousands?
Harmful Activities
- Deforestation
- Surface wildfires
- Selective logging
Protection Efforts
- Rehabilitation and increased productivity of formerly forested lands
- Expansion of protection areas
- Development based on concepts of sustainable use of some existing forest
- Land policy reform
- Law Enforcement
Deforestation
Surface Wildfires
10 to 50% of the Amazon is burnt because of the surface wildfires!
Selective Logging
CLAS analysis showed that selective logging damaged more than 46,000 km2 of forest in the five states during the three-year study period.
Locations
Work Cited:
Information:
Human Impact on Amazon: http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/7215/20140523/human-impact-on-amazon-rainforest-grossly-underestimated.htm
Conserving: http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/amazon_conservation.html
Locations:http://www.softschools.com/facts/wonders_of_the_world/amazon_rainforest_facts/98/
Importance: http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/amazon/about_the_amazon/why_amazon_important/
Images:
Anaconda: www.wallpapersfolder.com
Gorilla: greenbuzzz.com
Raflesia: www.oddizzi.com
Deforestation: www.redorbit.com
Surface Wildfires: www.theguardian.com
Selective Logging: conservationmagazine.org
Peru: www.allwonders.com
Brazil: www.ngkids.co.uk
4th Block Earth Science