The Amazon Rainforest

Background Information The Amazon Rainforest or the Amazon jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of South America. 5.5 million square kilometres of forest. The majority of the forest is within Brazil, with 60% of the forest. Peru is second with 13% of the forest. The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, and it comprises the largest and most species rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world.

Biodiversity One in ten known species in the world live in the Amazon Rainforest. This is the largest collection of living plants and animal species in the world. The region is home to about 2.5 million insect species, tens of thousands of plants, and some 2000 birds and mammals. The rainforest contains several species that can pose a hazard. Among the largest predatory creatures are the; Jaguar and the Anaconda. Electric eels, Piranhas are just a few of the deadly creatures in the water. Also, the poison dart frog that secret poison through their flesh. The Vampire bat is known to spread rabies.

Deforestation The main sources of deforestation in the Amazon are human settlement and development of the land. Farms established during the 1960s was based on crop cultivation and the slash and burn method. The soils in the Amazon are productive for just a short period of time, so farmers are constantly moving to new areas and clearing more land. Between 1991 and 2000, the total area of forest lost in the Amazon rose from 400,000 to 550,000 km 2, with most of the lost forest becoming pasture for cattle. The mean annual deforestation rate from 2000 to 2005 (22,392 km 2 per year) was 18% higher than in the previous five years

Indigenous Peoples of Brazil Many of the estimated 2,000 tribes which existed in the 15th century died out as a consequence of the European settlement, and many were assimilated into the Brazilian population. Destruction came as indigenous territories continue to be destroyed by deforestation. The next phase of destruction came in the 1980s with the discovery of large deposits of gold on reservation land, particularly Yanomami land. The Yanomami, one of the largest and oldest known tribes in the South Americas, had lived virtually unchanged since the Stone Age.

Yanomami Tribe Among the hills that line the border between Brazil and Venezuela. Due to the remoteness of their residence, they had remained largely undisturbed by the outside world until the beginning of the 20th century. They depend on the forest; they use “slash and burn” agriculture, grow bananas, gather fruit, hunt and fish. Children stay close to their mother; most of the child rearing is done by women.