AMAZON RAINFOREST (Syllabus: GS Paper 1 – Geography)

Context: 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28), global leaders emphatically called for the protection of indigenous rights as a crucial strategy to safeguard the Amazon rainforest. The Amazon rainforest is on fire and in a severe drought due to deforestation, extractive industries, industrial agriculture, climate change, and other threats.

About Amazon Rainforests

• Largest Rainforest: The Amazon is the world's largest rainforest, surpassing the combined size of the next two largest rainforests in the Congo Basin and Indonesia.
• Distribution: The majority of the forest, 60%, is in Brazil, followed by Peru with 13%, Colombia with 10%, and with minor amounts in Bolivia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela.
• Bounded by

oThe Guiana Highlands to the north,

oAndes Mountains to the west, 

oBrazilian central plateau to the south, 

oAtlantic Ocean to the east.

• Coverage: Approximately 6.9 million square kilometers, the Amazon Basin is equivalent in size to the contiguous United States and spans about 40% of the South American continent.
• Vegetation: Many species of myrtle, laurel, palm, and acacia, as well as rosewood, Brazil nut, and rubber tree
• Major wildlife: Jaguar, manatee, tapir, red deer, capybara and many other types of rodents,