FACTS ...
* The Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world.
* The Amazon rainforest covers 3-3.2 million square miles.
* 80 percent of the Amazon rainforest is forest.
* The Amazon rainforest contains an estimated 16,000 tree species and 390 billion individual trees.
* The Amazon rainforest contains an estimated 40,000 plant species, 1,300 bird species, 3,000 types of fish, 430 mammals, and 2.5 million different insects.
* The Amazon rainforest produces over 20% of the world’s oxygen.
* The Amazon river is the second largest river in the world, stretching 4,250 miles in length.
* By the year 2018, 17% of the Amazon forest was reported as having been lost. Deforestation rates in the Amazon peaked in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with some years seeing 10,000 square miles razed within 12 month periods.
* Deforestation exploded by 279 percent in March 2020, as compared with 2019.
* The fire season in 2019 was one of the worst on record, with 76,000 fires burning simultaneously across the Amazon. This alarming future represented an increase of over 80 percent over the same time in the previous year.
* Illegal mining in the Amazon increased by roughly 25 percent between the years 2018 and 2019.
* Around 400-500 indigenous Amerindian tribes call the Amazon rainforest home.
* Since Bolsonaro’s administration came to power in 2018, invasions into indigenous territories have more than doubled, emboldened by the President’s vocal support of agribusiness, mining, and other activities.
Various sources, retrieved from: https://sentientmedia.org/amazon-deforestation/, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/deforestation#:~:text=Since%20humans%20started%20cutting%20down,have%20been%20on%20the%20rise, https://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/amazon-rainforest-facts.html, https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/geography/physical-geography/amazon-facts/