The Amazon rainforest is critical for the world.
Tropical forests are among the oldest ecosystems. Their origins are estimated to date back 70 million years, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.
They cover about 6% of the Earth’s surface but are home to more than 50% of all plant and animal species. Their complex biodiversity is rich in natural resources, food and medicinal plants.
Tropical forests significantly regulate global temperatures by absorbing solar radiation and carbon dioxide. They are responsible for about 40% of all breathable air on Earth. They also receive more than 10 meters (33 feet) of rain annually and are an essential reserve of fresh water.
The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical forest and the largest river basin, with more than a thousand tributaries. It is home to a lush nature with countless animal species, many of which are threatened with extinction. In addition to its precious timber, it has many other riches, including minerals, nuts, fruits, fish, and rubber.
The Amazon River is over 6,000 kilometres long, fuelling controversy over whether it is longer than the Nile River. Brazilian researchers claim that it is, beating it by about 140 kilometres. It is also the river with the largest volume of water on the planet. It empties about 20% of all the fresh water on Earth’s surface into the Atlantic Ocean.
The river and its surroundings also have great artistic, cultural and historical richness. In 1500, the Spanish navigator Vicente Pinzón, leader of the oldest proven expedition to Brazil, called the Amazon the “sweet sea”.
The earliest European descriptions of the civilisations that have inhabited the Amazon for over 10,000 years date back to the 16th century. New archaeological remains of the native peoples are being discovered constantly, and they still live in the region.
The Amazon area currently has over 100 isolated tribes. In other words, while you and I read this text on a screen, Indigenous people in the middle of the Amazon are living without even knowing of our existence. And the only information we have about some of these tribes comes from aerial and satellite photographs.
I live in Minas Gerais, a state in the country’s southeast, where the predominant biomes are the Atlantic Forest (tropical rainforest) and the Cerrado (Brazilian savanna). The Amazon is in the North. It’s many hours away by plane from my city, Belo Horizonte, and I have yet to visit it. This forest is as exotic to me as it is to the foreign reader.
The big difference lies in the fact that, as a Brazilian, I have more emotional and historical ties to this forest and Brazilian natives. Therefore, I am very aware of how vital it is to the survival of the Earth. I’m a descendant of Portuguese, Germans and Brazilian Indigenous, as far as I was able to climb in my genealogical tree.
Dear readers, pressure your governments to help us protect the Amazon with financial resources and political support.
Donate to good environmental institutions that work to preserve tropical forests. Talk to people about this subject. Publish reliable information about global warming and deforestation on your online channels.
In the Amazon, human lives and pristine nature are now seriously threatened. Amazon is vital not only for Brazil but also for the entire world. Fighting for the Amazon is fighting for the right to have a future on this planet!
Notes
Rainforest 101 – National Geographic Video
Nile or Amazon? Which is the longest river in the world? – National Geographic Article (Portuguese)
Isolated Peoples – FUNAI, Brazilian government (Portuguese)
The city of all times – Article about Santarém in National Geographic Brazil, printed magazine version, December 2015.
Published on my blog in Portuguese on June 22, 2022: A importância da Amazônia para o Planeta Terra.
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