The Amazon Rainforest: The World's Largest Rainforest
By Rhett A. Butler [Last update Apr 4, 2024]
The Amazon River Basin is home to the largest rainforest on Earth. The basin -- roughly the size of the forty-eight contiguous United States -- covers some 40 percent of the South American continent and includes parts of eight South American countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, and Suriname, as well as French Guiana, a department of France.
Reflecting environmental conditions as well as past human influence, the Amazon is made up of a mosaic of ecosystems and vegetation types including rainforests, seasonal forests, deciduous forests, flooded forests, and savannas.
The basin is drained by the Amazon River, the world's largest river in terms of discharge, and the second longest river in the world after the Nile. The river is made up of over 1,100 tributaries, 17 of which are longer than 1000 miles, and two of which (the Negro and the Madeira) are larger, in terms of volume, than the Congo river.
The river system is the lifeline of the forest and its history plays an important part in the development of its rainforests.
Country | Tree cover extent 2020 | Primary forest extent 2020 | Tree cover loss since 2000 | Tree cover loss 2010-19 | Primary forest loss 2010-19 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bolivia | 44,854,868 | 28,815,724 | 10.0% | 3,335,988 | 1,630,465 |
Brazil | 373,904,915 | 310,498,565 | 10.2% | 22,238,014 | 12,940,179 |
Colombia | 51,027,994 | 43,336,799 | 4.1% | 1,229,310 | 774,500 |
Ecuador | 10,929,034 | 9,093,550 | 3.5% | 272,369 | 106,585 |
French Guiana | 8,114,787 | 7,805,457 | 0.9% | 43,026 | 30,305 |
Guyana | 18,908,103 | 17,168,399 | 1.1% | 143,957 | 92,979 |
Peru | 76,035,841 | 67,149,825 | 4.0% | 2,097,146 | 1,372,976 |
Suriname | 13,856,308 | 12,648,491 | 1.3% | 141,422 | 100,382 |
Venezuela | 36,247,586 | 32,441,439 | 1.6% | 375,760 | 249,075 |
TOTAL | 633,879,436 | 528,958,249 | 7.9% | 29,876,992 | 17,297,446 |
WHERE THE AMAZON RANKS AMONG GLOBAL RAINFORESTS
The Amazon is the world's biggest rainforest, larger than the next two largest rainforests — in the Congo Basin and Indonesia — combined.
As of 2020, the Amazon has 526 million hectares of primary forest, which accounts for nearly 84% of the region's 629 million hectares of total tree cover. By comparison, the Congo Basin has around 168 million hectares of primary forest and 288 million hectares of tree cover, while the combined tropical areas of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, and Australia have 120 million hectares of primary forest and 216 million hectares of tree cover.
THE HISTORY OF THE AMAZON RAINFOREST
At one time Amazon River flowed westward, perhaps as part of a proto-Congo river system from the interior of present day Africa when the continents were joined as part of Gondwana. Fifteen million years ago, the Andes were formed by the collision of the South American plate with the Nazca plate. The rise of the Andes and the linkage of the Brazilian and Guyana bedrock shields, blocked the river and caused the Amazon to become a vast inland sea. Gradually this inland sea became a massive swampy, freshwater lake and the marine inhabitants adapted to life in freshwater. For example, over 20 species of stingray, most closely related to those found in the Pacific Ocean, can be found today in the freshwaters of the Amazon.
About ten million years ago, waters worked through the sandstone to the west and the Amazon began to flow eastward. At this time the Amazon rainforest was born. During the Ice Age, sea levels dropped and the great Amazon lake rapidly drained and became a river. Three million years later, the ocean level receded enough to expose the Central American isthmus and allow mass migration of mammal species between the Americas.
The Ice Ages caused tropical rainforest around the world to retreat. Although debated, it is believed that much of the Amazon reverted to savanna and montane forest (see Ice Ages and Glaciation). Savanna divided patches of rainforest into "islands" and separated existing species for periods long enough to allow genetic differentiation (a similar rainforest retreat took place in Africa. Delta core samples suggest that even the mighty Congo watershed was void of rainforest at this time). When the ice ages ended, the forest was again joined and the species that were once one had diverged significantly enough to be constitute designation as separate species, adding to the tremendous diversity of the region. About 6000 years ago, sea levels rose about 130 meters, once again causing the river to be inundated like a long, giant freshwater lake.
Note: Human populations have shaped the biodiversity of the Amazon. See Amazon people for more.
The world's largest rainforests [more] How large is the Amazon rainforest? The extent of the Amazon depends on the definition. The the Amazon River drains about 6.915 million sq km (2.722 sq mi), or roughly 40 percent of South America, but generally areas outside the basin are included when people speak about "the Amazon." The biogeographic Amazon ranges from 7.76-8.24 million sq km (3-3.2 million sq mi), of which just over 80 percent is forested. For comparison, the land area of the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii) is 9,629,091 square kilometers (3,717,811 sq km). Nearly two-thirds of the Amazon lies in Brazil. |
THE AMAZON RIVER TODAY
Today the Amazon River is the most voluminous river on Earth, carrying more than five times the volume of the Congo or twelve times that of the Mississippi, draining an area nearly the size of the forty-eight contiguous United States. During the high water season, the river's mouth may be 300 miles wide and every day up to 18 billion cubic meters (635 billion cubic feet) of water flow into the Atlantic. That discharge, equivalent to 209,000 cubic meters of water per second (7.3 million cubic feet/sec), could fill over 7.2 million Olympic swimming pools per day or supply New York City's freshwater needs for nine years.
The force of the current -- from sheer water volume alone -- causes Amazon River water to continue flowing 125 miles out to sea before mixing with Atlantic salt water. Early sailors could drink freshwater out of the ocean before sighting the South American continent.
The river current carries tons of suspended sediment all the way from the Andes and gives the river a characteristic muddy whitewater appearance. It is calculated that 106 million cubic feet of suspended sediment are swept into the ocean each day. The result from the silt deposited at the mouth of the Amazon is Majaro island, a river island about the size of Switzerland.
The Amazon's influence on the movement of moisture extends beyond the water that flows down the Amazon river. The trees of the Amazon rainforest pump vast quantities of water vapor into the atmosphere every day via transpiration. While much of this water falls locally as rain, some of this moisture is carried by airflows across other parts of the continent, including the agricultural heartland of South America to the south. This movement has been likened to "flying rivers". By one estimate, 70% of Brazil's gross national product comes from areas that receive rainfall generated by the Amazon rainforest.
THE AMAZON RAINFOREST
While the Amazon Basin is home to the world's largest tropical rainforest, the region consists of myriad other ecosystems ranging from natural savanna to swamps. Even the rainforest itself is highly variable, tree diversity and structure varying depending on soil type, history, drainage, elevation, and other factors. This is discussed at greater length in the Amazon rainforest ecology section.
AMAZON 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. The following numbers represent a sampling of its astounding levels of biodiversity:
- 40,000 plant species
- 16,000 tree species
- 3,000 fish species
- 1,300 birds
- 430+ mammals
- 1,000+ amphibians
- 400+ reptiles
THE CHANGING AMAZON RAINFOREST
The Amazon has a long history of human settlement, but in recent decades the pace of change has accelerated due to an increase in human population, the introduction of mechanized agriculture, and integration of the Amazon region into the global economy. Vast quantities of commodities produced in the Amazon — cattle beef and leather, timber, soy, oil and gas, and minerals, to name a few — are exported today to China, Europe, the U.S., Russia, and other countries. This shift has had substantial impacts on the Amazon.
This transition from a remote backwater to a cog in the global economy has resulted in large-scale deforestation and forest degradation in the Amazon — more than 1.4 million hectares of forest have been cleared since the 1970s. An even larger area has been affected by selective logging and forest fires.
Conversion for cattle grazing is the biggest single direct driver of deforestation. In Brazil, more than 60 percent of cleared land ends up as pasture, most of which has low productivity, supporting less than one head per hectare. Across much of the Amazon, the primary objective for cattle ranching is to establish land claims, rather than produce beef or leather. But market-oriented cattle production has nonetheless expanded rapidly during the past decade.
Industrial agricultural production, especially soy farms, has also been an important driver of deforestation since the early 1990s. However since 2006 the Brazil soy industry has had a moratorium on new forest clearing for soy. The moratorium was a direct result of a Greenpeace campaign.
Mining, subsistence agriculture, dams, urban expansion, agricultural fires, and timber plantations also result in significant forest loss in the Amazon. Logging is the primary driver of forest disturbance and studies have shown that logged-over forests — even when selectively harvested — have a much higher likelihood of eventual deforestation. Logging roads grant access to farmers and ranchers to previous inaccessible forest areas.
Deforestation isn't the only reason the Amazon is changing. Global climate change is having major impacts on the Amazon rainforest. Higher temperatures in the tropical Atlantic reduce rainfall across large extents of the Amazon, causing drought and increasing the susceptibility of the rainforest to fire. Computer models suggest that if current rates of warming continue, much of the Amazon could transition from rainforest to savanna, especially in the southern parts of the region. Such a shift could have dramatic economic and ecological impacts, including affecting rainfall that currently feeds regions that generate 70 percent of South America's GDP and triggering enormous carbon emissions from forest die-off. These emissions could further worsen climate change.
PROTECTING THE AMAZON RAINFOREST
While destruction of the Amazon rainforest is ongoing, the overall rate of deforestation rate in the region dropped between the mid-2000s and mid-2010s, mostly due to to the sharp decline in forest clearing in Brazil. However deforestation has been steadily rising in the region in more recent years.
Brazil's decline in its deforestation rate between 2004 and 2012 was attributed to several factors, some of which it controls, some of which it doesn't. Between 2000 and 2010 Brazil established the world's largest network of protected areas, the majority of which are located in the Amazon region. In 2004, the government implemented a deforestation reduction program which included improved law enforcement, satellite monitoring, and the provision of financial incentives for respecting environmental laws. Independent public prosecutors offices played a particularly important role in pursing illegal activities in the Brazilian Amazon. The private sector also got involved, especially after 2006 when major crushers established a moratorium on new deforestation for soy. That soy moratorium was followed by the "Cattle Agreement", which major slaughterhouses and beef processors committed to source cattle only from areas where environmental laws were being respected.
However these conservation initiatives started to break down in the Brazilian Amazon in the mid-2010s. Major cattle producers circumvented the rules through livestock laundering, while financial incentives for conserving forests failed to materialize at the expected scale needed to change landowners' behavior. The Temer and Bolsonaro Administrations dismantled environmental regulations, reduced environmental law enforcement, stripped conservation areas and indigenous territories of protections, and encouraged a wide range of industries (mining, logging, agribusiness) to expand extraction and conversion in the Amazon. In 2019, deforestation in the Brazilian started accelerating rapidly.
THE LATEST AMAZON RAINFOREST NEWS
Deforestation plunges but environmental threats remain as Colombia hosts COP16 (Oct 21 2024)
- As global leaders, experts, activists and Indigenous voices meet this October in the Colombian city of Cali at the U.N. Biodiversity Conference, COP16, missteps and successes within President Gustavo Petro’s environment agenda are watched closely.
- COP16 occurs two years after the country’s first-ever left-wing president was sworn in, pledging to turn Colombia into “a leader in the protection of life,” as his four-year plan centers on energy transition, Indigenous causes and tackling climate change.
- But while praised internationally for his efforts to promote conservation, shift away from fossil fuels and surround himself with green-abiding authorities, Petro remains under pressure, as many of his environmental proposals are still on paper, upholding Colombia’s long-lasting socioenvironmental struggles.
- Experts attribute a lack of sufficient environmental resolutions to various factors, including a Congress resistant to government initiatives, challenges in curbing deforestation and Colombia’s status as the most dangerous country for environmental defenders, as highlighted by recent reports.
Extreme drought wrecks rivers and daily life in Amazon’s most burnt Indigenous land (Oct 18 2024)
- Almost 20% of the Kayapó Indigenous Territory has burned in this year’s Amazon drought, the worst ever recorded in Brazil.
- The land has for years been subjected to illegal mining, cattle ranching and burning of forests, degrading both the soil and rivers and significantly disrupting the way of life for the Mebêngôkre-Kayapó people.
- The Indigenous inhabitants now confront a growing crisis as wildfires and drought threaten their lands, particularly along the Riozinho River.
- According to ecologist Rodolfo Salm, who has worked with the Kayapó since 1996, fire has now surpassed illegal logging as the greatest danger to the region.
Amazon voters elect environmental offenders and climate denialists in Brazil (Oct 17 2024)
- The Amazonian population elected climate change deniers and politicians with a history of environmental fines to govern some of the region’s major cities.
- Pará’s state capital, Belém, which will host COP30 in 2025, may elect a mayor unconcerned about climate change.
- According to experts, opposing illegal activities is political suicide in municipalities whose economies rely on deforestation, illegal mining and illegal logging.
Climate change and agrochemicals pose lethal combo for Amazonian fish (Oct 17 2024)
- A recent study evaluates the impacts on the Amazonian tambaqui fish from simultaneous exposure to a mix of pesticides and an extreme climate change scenario.
- Researchers subjected the fish to higher temperatures and higher atmospheric CO2 levels, as well as a cocktail of two pesticides, a herbicide and a fungicide, all of which are commonly used in farms throughout the Brazilian Amazon.
- The tambaqui’s capacity to metabolize the agrochemicals was found to be compromised in warmer water, and they suffered damage to their liver, nervous system and DNA.
- The study also points to the risks to food safety in the region, where fish are the main protein source: some 400 metric tons of tambaqui are eaten every year in the city of Manaus alone.
Delays in land titling threaten the conservation success of quilombos in Brazil (Oct 15 2024)
- Titled quilombo territories — traditional Brazilian communities originally formed by runaway enslaved people — have significantly lower deforestation rates, making them crucial for conserving Brazil’s natural biomes.
- However, only 4.33% of all Quilombolas in Brazil have been granted proper land rights.
- Quilombola communities in Alcântara have fought for their land rights since the 1970s, facing displacement and government neglect, but the Brazilian Air Force is pushing for an expansion of the local space center, delaying the recognition of Quilombola land claims.
- Brazil has admitted to human rights violations against the Alcântara Quilombolas, but progress on land titling remains slow and uncertain.
Deforestation remains low, but fires surge in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest (Oct 12 2024)
- Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon remains near a six-year low, with 561 square kilometers cleared in September, a 30% decline from the previous year.
- Fires in the Amazon have surged dramatically, with an 18-fold increase in the area affected by fires, from 4,700 to 39,983 square kilometers, driven by a historic drought.
- Fire hotspots detected by satellite in the Amazon increased by 70%, rising to 145,357 compared to 85,670 the previous year.
- Scientists warn that deforestation, forest degradation, and climate change could destabilize the Amazon, affecting rainfall patterns and biodiversity across South America.
The life and legacy of Ryan Killackey, the filmmaker who rallied international support for Yasuni (Obituary) (Oct 9 2024)
- Ryan Killackey, who passed away at 46 on October 4th, was a dedicated advocate for the natural world, with a particular focus on the Amazon rainforest and its Indigenous communities.
- His passion for nature led him from wildlife biology in North America to the Ecuadorian Amazon, where he became captivated by Yasuni National Park’s extraordinary biodiversity.
- In 2005, he moved to Ecuador and began documenting the Waorani people’s struggle against oil extraction in Yasuni, eventually resulting in his acclaimed documentary, Yasuni Man.
- Despite the limits of his advocacy, his film helped raise awareness, contributing to Ecuador’s 2023 decision to end oil drilling in Yasuni, a bittersweet victory during his final days.
‘World’s largest’ carbon credit deal in the Amazon faces bumpy road ahead (Oct 9 2024)
- The Brazilian state of Pará has agreed to sell millions of carbon credits to multinational corporations, including Amazon, Bayer and Walmart Foundation, but many challenges loom.
- Experts are concerned the deal is overly ambitious and worry about the state’s long history of carbon credit project scams.
- Although Indigenous, Quilombola and extractive community entities support the arrangement, other community members state they have not been consulted about the project on their lands.
‘Indigenous women in the Amazon must be empowered’: Interview with Nemonte Nenquimo (Oct 7 2024)
- The new book Seremos Jaguares (We Will Be Jaguars) by Indigenous leader Nemonte Nenquimo is the memoir of a woman who fought against large oil companies to preserve her people’s land and thousands of hectares of Amazon rainforest.
- The book, written with her husband and executive director of the organization Amazon Frontlines, Mitch Anderson, is a story of hope and resistance from the Amazon in the fight against climate change and the protection of nature.
- In this interview, Mongabay speaks with Nemonte Nenquimo about her work to defend the Amazon and what her new book symbolizes for Indigenous women around the world.
New conservation model calls for protecting Amazon for its archaeological riches (Oct 4 2024)
- Across the Amazon, archaeological remains indicate that the human presence in the rainforest is much older, larger and more widespread than previously thought.
- Researchers in Brazil are lobbying to register archaeological sites as national monuments, which would confer a new layer of protection status to parts of the rainforest.
- Earthen mounds known as geoglyphs, for instance, have been revealed to stretch from Acre state north into neighboring Amazonas; formally recognizing them under Brazil’s heritage law could protect this vast swath of rainforest.
- “Today we know it’s highly likely that part of the forest has been changed by people,” said Dutch biologist Hans ter Steege, co-author of research that has shown there may be up to 24,000 earthworks hidden throughout the rainforest that could qualify for protection.
EU considers postponing anti-deforestation law as pressure from agribusiness mounts (Oct 3 2024)
- The EU parliament and council is considering a 12-month delay to its deforestation-free products regulation, which will require exporters to prove that beef, soy, rubber and other harmful commodities aren’t sourced to deforested land.
- The law was supposed to go into effect January 1, 2025, but faced mounting pressure from exporting countries and the industrial agricultural sector.
- The 12-month delay could result in around 2,300 square kilometers (888 square miles) of deforestation and 49 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions, according to EU studies.
Brazil dredges Amazon rivers to ease drought isolation, raising environmental concerns (Oct 1 2024)
- Brazil has committed to dredge major Amazon rivers in response to record drought that has lowered water levels and made ship passage, a key transportation lifeline, difficult or impossible.
- The dredging is aimed at supporting local communities, who rely on river navigation to get supplies in from outside, and producers, who need to ship their commodities out.
- But experts question whether dredging is a sustainable solution, raising concerns about long-term ecological impacts and advocating for community involvement and innovative technology for better outcomes.
- The environmental risks of dredging include ecosystem disruption, increased erosion, water contamination, and harm to aquatic species such as manatees and river dolphins.
PICTURES OF THE AMAZON RAINFOREST
Blackwater lake and whitewater river in the Amazon
Victoria water lilies
Flowering tree in the Amazon rainforest canopy
Waura shaman
Oxbow lake in the Amazon
Cock-of-the-rock
Blue poison dart frog
Leaf katydid
Jaguar in the Colombian Amazon
Hoatzin
Creek in the Colombian Amazon
Passion flower in the Colombian Amazon
Woolly monkey
Javari River
Daybreak over the Amazon
Amazonian wax-tailed fulgorid
Amazon rainforest canopy in Brazil
Discus
Rivers in the Amazon rainforest
Squirrel monkey in the Amazon
Leaf-cutter ant in the Amazon
Giant monkey frog
Amazon rainforest canopy in Peru
Orange planthopper in Peru
Oxbow lake in the Amazon
Indigenous man with bird eggs
Indigenous Tikuna man in the Amazon rainforest
Javari river in the Amazon
Harpy eagle
Mantid in Suriname
Amazon leaf toad
Amazon bat
Angelfish
Frequently asked questions about the Amazon, answeredWhere is the Amazon rainforest?
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