Location of Amazon The majority of the forest is in Brazil, with 60% of the rainforest, followed by Peru with 13%, Colombia with 10%, and with minor amounts in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.

The Beauty of the Amazon The Amazon Jungle is the world’s largest tropical rainforest

Brazil holds about one-third of the world's remaining rainforests, including a majority of the Amazon rainforest. It is also overwhelmingly the most bio- diverse country on Earth, with more than 56,000 described species of plants, 1,700 species of birds, 695 amphibians, 578 mammals, and 651 reptiles.

It is home to more than 1/5 of the world’s plant species

1/10 of the world’s mammal species Red Howler Monkey Squirrel Monkey Jaguar and Panther Capybara (world’s largest rodent) Ocelot

Causes of Deforestation

Cattle Ranching Statistic indicate that clearing land for cattle ranching is the number one cause of deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest

Agriculture Small Farming Commercial Farming –Brazil exported $27.6 billion in agricultural products last year and imported goods worth $3.2 billion. –soy beans

Building Roads Road construction in the Amazon leads to deforestation. Roads provide access to logging and mining sites while opening forest frontier land to exploitation by poor landless farmers.

Logging Strict laws prevent logging in only specific areas but illegal logging is quite common Selective logging, where only one or two valuable tree species are harvested from an area, is driving the forest damage

of Deforestation

Loss of Habitat for Animals

Loss of Diversity in plants and animals

Erosion of Soil

The Unknown (medicines, cures, etc. )