Amazon forest

Why is tha Amazon rainforest important? Why is Biodiversity important?



Enlaces:
Biodiversity in the Amazon: Promoting Indigenous Stewardship as Policy

Amazon Rain Forest 

(learn more about rainforests) 

The Amazon Basin contains the world's largest rainforest, which represents over 60 percent of the world's remaining rainforests. More than half this forest lies in Brazil, but yhere are more in Peru, etc...

The Amazon rainforest affords the planet with irreplaceable ecosystem services that are increasingly being recognized by researchers and policymakers. 

Precipitation 

Through transpiration, the Amazon rainforest is responsible for creating 50-75 percent of its own precipitation. But its impact extends well beyond the Amazon Basin, with Amazon rainfall and rivers feeding regions that generate 70 percent of South America's GDP. Models indicate that moisture from the Amazon influences rainfall as far away as the Western United States and Central America. 

Carbon storage 

The 390 billion trees across the Amazon rainforest locks up massive amounts of carbon in their leaves, branches, and trunks. A 2007 study published in Global Change Biology estimated the forest stores some 86 billion tons of carbon or more than a third of all carbon stored by tropical forests worldwide. - S

Biodiversity 

The Amazon is home to more species of plants and animals than any other terrestrial ecosystem on the planet — perhaps 30 percent of the world's species are found there. Besides their intrinsic value as living organisms, these species have potential value to humans in the form of medicine, food, and other products. 

Local benefits 

Within the Amazon Basin, tens of millions of people depend on services afforded by the forest. Rivers are the main vectors for transportation, while logging and collection of non-timber forest products are major industries in many cities, towns, and villages. The rainforest helps suppress — but not completely eliminate — the risk of fire, in addition to reducing air pollution. Fish in Amazon tributaries are a huge source of protein in the region. Annual floods replenish nutrients in floodplain areas used for agriculture. 

What can de done to save the Amazon rainforest in Brazil?

Today Brazil faces an enormous challenge: how to balance economic growth with the preservation of the Amazon rainforest.

1. Rehabilitation and increased productivity of formerly forested lands
2. Expansion of protection areas
3. Development based on concepts of sustainable use of some existing forest
4. Land policy reform
5. Law Enforcement

Deforestation trends in Amazon countries

Forest loss trends between Amazon countries are highly variable. The following charts are based data from Matt Hansen and colleagues, as presented in Global Forest Watch, using a "loose" definition of the Amazon that extends beyond the Amazon river basin. This includes the Guianas, all of Amazonas state in Venezuela, and all of the states of Maranhão and Mato Grosso in Brazil. Forest is defined as areas having more than 50 percent tree cover. 

Brazil 


Annual forests loss in Brazil and the Brazilian Amazon

State deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Data from INPE. Click image to enlarge.

The dramatic decline in the Brazilian Amazon's deforestation rate is detailed in our environmental profile on the country