When one mentions the Amazon rainforest, one often thinks of Brazil.
But while the majority of the rainforest does fall within the borders of Brazil, it actually stretches over areas in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela and other smaller countries within South America. That’s how big this rainforest is.
With an area that covers over 7 million square kilometers, this enormous ecosystem of wetland, jungle, and rivers is rightly referred to as the lungs of our planet.
Watch to find out more on this important issue below.
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Video credit: Rumble
The staggering amount of carbon dioxide it absorbs and the oxygen it gives back out literally keeps animals and humans alive throughout the world. There are so much humidity and rainfall in the Amazon that the clouds that form above the rainforest are even called a river in the sky.
It’s truly awe-inspiring when you realize that most of the rain that bathes the planet originated in the Amazon, the priceless work of the trees there.
With more than 390 billion trees in the rainforest, the Amazon represents half of the planet’s remaining rainforest. There are 16,000 different species of trees and an astounding one in ten of the world’s known animal species can be found there. Counting bird and mammal species alone, more than 2,000 species call the Amazon home.
To say that the Amazon is important to our planet and our continued well-being is an understatement.
The Amazon rainforest has been there for 55 million years and yet it has only taken a few human generations to threaten its existence and by extension, our very existence as a human race as well. Unparalleled human greed has seen people burning huge swathes of rainforest to make way for agriculture and industry without regard for the cost in terms of plant and animal biodiversity.
Clearly, these people don’t appreciate just how important the Amazon is to the survival of the human species itself.point 221 |
But what is even sadder is that world leaders are gripped by indecision on what to do about these destructive human activities.point 106 | You would think that a collective instinct for self-preservation should have kicked in by now but despite how logical it sounds, it seems that competing interests are simply too strong to give up the allure of monetary profit.point 295 | 1
One thing remains clear, though. If we want to survive as a species, the Amazon rainforest needs to be protected at all cost. If governments can’t act, then it’s up to like-minded individuals to work together and do what they can.
Replaced!