To celebrate World Amazon Day this week we're taking you on a little journey along the biggest river and through the largest rainforest in the world.
The world's biggest river flows through the world's biggest rainforest – both called the Amazon. This incredible place is twice the size of India (spanning 6.7 million km2) and is virtually unrivalled in scale, complexity and opportunity.
The Amazon is home to 1 in 10 of all the wildlife species we know about – and probably a lot that we don't know yet. Our research shows that, on average, a new species of animal or plant is being discovered in the Amazon every 3 days.
The Amazon has always been a photogenic 'pin-up' for the environmental movement – but its importance is much more than symbolic.
The Amazon is home to more than 30 million people. But it's not just locals that depend on this vast ecosystem: people around the world rely on the Amazon. Not just for food, water, wood, and medicines, but to help stabilise the climate, with the Amazon playing a critical role in global and regional carbon and water cycles.
We all need the Amazon. And it needs our help now more than ever.
This incredible wilderness is under increasing threat from huge-scale farming and ranching, infrastructure and urban development, unsustainable logging, mining and climate change.
We've been actively working in the Amazon for over 40 years.
Initially working on site-based and research projects in the 1960s, we've expanded to include species research, policy development, management of protected areas, forest management, and education (to name only a few).
None of this would have been possible without your support over the years.
Wondering how you can help protect the Amazon?
Whether you are drifting in a boat along the Amazon River, toes dipped in the water, or purchasing a fish for your tank, your actions can have an impact on the largest rainforest in the world. Here are some tips to make sure these impacts are positive.
0 comments:
Post a Comment