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Amazon Rainforest
Context:
New research shows that despite its vital role in combating global warming, nearly 40% of the most carbon-dense areas of the Amazon remain unprotected.
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- According to Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP) analysis, 61% of the highest carbon-storing areas in the Amazon are protected as indigenous reserves or other designated conservation lands.
- However, the remaining areas largely lack official protection.
- In Brazil, Suriname, and French Guiana, only 51% of these critical carbon areas are designated for preservation.
- Peru, on the other hand, safeguards a higher percentage, though some unprotected areas are marked for logging.
About Amazon
- The Amazon Rainforest is a vast tropical rainforest that occupies the drainage basin of the Amazon River and its tributaries in northern South America, covering approximately 6 million square kilometres.
- The landscape contains:
- About 1 in 10 known species on Earth.
- 1.4 billion acres of dense forests.
- 20% of the world’s liquid freshwater.
- 2.7 million square miles in the Amazon basin, about 40% of South America.
- The landscape contains:
- It spans about 40% of Brazil’s land area and is bordered by the Guiana Highlands to the north, the Andes Mountains to the west, the Brazilian central plateau to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east.
- Amazonia is the largest river basin in the world, with its forest stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Andean tree line in the west.
- The forest expands from a 320-km front along the Atlantic to a 1,900-km wide belt near the Andean foothills. This vast, continuous rainforest is sustained by the region’s high rainfall, humidity, and consistently warm temperatures.
- The Amazon Rainforest is the richest and most diverse biological reservoir on Earth, containing millions of species of insects, plants, birds, and other wildlife, many of which remain undocumented.
- Its lush vegetation includes a variety of trees such as myrtle, laurel, palm, acacia, rosewood, Brazil nut, and rubber trees. Timber from mahogany and Amazonian cedar is particularly prized.
Notable wildlife includes jaguars, manatees, tapirs, red deer, capybaras, various rodents, and several species of monkeys.