Tropical Rainforests

The Amazon Rainforest

• It is home to 1000 species of bird and 60,000 species of plants

• 10 million species of insects live in the Amazon

• It is home to 20 million people, who use the wood, cut down trees for farms and for cattle.

• It covers 2.1 million square miles of land

• The Amazon is home to almost 20% of the species on Earth

• The UK and Ireland would fit into the Amazon 17 times!

The Amazon caught the public’s attention in the 1980s due to reports of significant deforestation, with an area the size of Belgium being cut down and burned annually. Deforestation continues today. By 2005, 17% of the Amazon rainforest had been lost.

The process of deforestation:

• The Amazon helps Brazil, to make money.

• Roads are built into the forest for logging firms to extract valuable hardwoods.

• Farmers, particularly cattle ranchers, burn the remaining vegetation for cattle pasture (75% of cleared areas).