Amazon Rainforest

Geobox|Forest
name = Amazon Rainforest
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image_caption = Amazon rainforest, Salinopolis, Para, Brazil.
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country = Brazil
country1 = Peru
country2 = Colombia
country3 = Venezuela
country4 = Ecuador
country5 = Bolivia
country6 = Guyana
country7 = Suriname
country8 = French Guiana
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parent = South America
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river = Amazon River
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area = 5500000
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map_caption = Map of the Amazon rainforest ecoregions as delineated by the WWF. Yellow line approximately encloses the Amazon rainforest (although leaving out Venezuela and the Guianas). National boundaries shown in black. Satellite image from NASA.
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The Amazon Rainforest (Brazilian Portuguese: "Floresta Amazônica" or "Amazônia"; Spanish: "Selva Amazónica" or "Amazonía") is a moist broadleaf forest in the Amazon Basin of South America. The area, also known as Amazonia, the Amazon jungle, or the Amazon Basin, encompasses seven million square kilometers (1.7 billion acres), though the forest itself occupies some 5.5 million square kilometers (1.4 billion acres), located within nine nations: Brazil (with 60 percent of the rainforest), Peru (with 13 percent of the rainforest, second after Brazil), Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. States or departments in four nations bear the name Amazonas after it. The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests and comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world.

Etymology

The name "Amazon" is said to arise from a war which Francisco de Orellana had with a tribe of Tapuyas and other tribes from South America where the women of the tribe fought alongside the men, as was the custom among the entire tribe (Orellana's descriptions may have been accurate, but a few historians speculate that Orellana could have been mistaking indigenous men wearing "grass skirts" for women). Orellana derived the name Amazonas from the ancient Amazons of Asia and Africa described by Herodotus and Diodorus in Greek legends.

Another etymology for the word suggests that it came originally from a native word "amazona" (Spanish spelling) or "amassona" (Portuguese spelling), meaning "destroyer (of) boats", in reference to the destructive nature of the root system possessed by some riparian plants.

History

The rainforest likely formed during the Eocene era, following the evolutionary appearance of angiosperm plants. It appeared following a global reduction of tropical temperatures when the Atlantic Ocean had widened sufficiently to provide a warm, moist climate to the Amazon basin. The rain forest has been in existence for at least 55 million years, and most of the region remained free of savanna-type biomes during that time period.cite book
first=Robert J. | last=Morley | year=2000
title=Origin and Evolution of Tropical Rain Forests
publisher=Wiley | isbn=0471983268] cite journal
last=Burnham | first=Robyn J.
coauthors=Johnson, Kirk R.
title=South American palaeobotany and the origins of neotropical rainforests
journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
year=2004 | volume=359 | issue=1450
pages=1595–1610 | doi=10.1098/rstb.2004.1531 ]

Following the K/T event, the extinction of the dinosaurs and the wetter climate may have allowed the tropical rainforest to spread out across the continent. From 65–34 Mya, the rainforest extended as far south as 45°. Climate fluctuations during the last 34 million years have allowed savanna regions to expand into the tropics. During the Oligocene, for example, the rainforest spanned a relatively narrow band that lay mostly above latitude 15°N. It expanded again during the Middle Miocene, then retracted to a mostly inland formation at the last glacial maximum. [cite journal
last=Maslin | first=Mark
coauthors=Malhi, Yadvinder; Phillips, Oliver; Cowling, Sharon
title=New views on an old forest: assessing the longevity, resilience and future of the Amazon rainforest
journal=Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers
year=2005 | volume=30 | issue=4 | pages=477–499
url=http://earth.leeds.ac.uk/ebi/publications/Maslin_2005.pdf
accessdate=2008-09-25 ] However, the rainforest still managed to thrive during these glacial periods; allowing for the survival and evolution of a broad diversity of species.cite book
first=Yadvinder | last=Malhi
coauthors=Phillips, Oliver | year=2005
title=Tropical Forests & Global Atmospheric Change
publisher=Oxford University Press
isbn=0198567065 ]

During the mid-Eocene, it is believed that the drainage basin of the Amazon was split along the middle of the continent by the Purus Arch. Water on the eastern side flowed toward the Atlantic, while to the west water flowed toward the Pacific across the Amazonas Basin. As the Andes Mountains rose, however, a large basin was created that enclosed a lake; now known as the Solimões Basin. Within the last 5–10 million years, this accumulating water broke through the Purus Arch, joining the easterly flow toward the Atlantic. [cite journal
last=Costa | first=João Batista Sena
coauthors=Bemerguy, Ruth Léa; Hasui, Yociteru; Borges, Maurício da Silva
title=Tectonics and paleogeography along the Amazon river
journal=Journal of South American Earth Sciences
year=2001 | volume=14 | issue=4 | pages=335–347
doi=10.1016/S0895-9811(01)00025-6] [cite journal
last=Milani | first=Edison José
coauthors=Zalán, Pedro Victor
title=An outline of the geology and petroleum systems of the Paleozoic interior basins of South America
journal=Episodes | year=1999
volume=22 | issue=3 | pages=199–205
url=http://www.episodes.org/backissues/223/199-205%20Milani.pdf
accessdate=2008-09-25 ]

There is evidence that there have been significant changes in Amazon rainforest vegetation over the last 21,000 years through the last glaciation (LGM) and subsequent deglaciation. Analyses of sediment deposits from Amazon basin paleolakes and from the Amazon Fan indicate that rainfall in the basin during the LGM was lower than for the present, and this was almost certainly associated with reduced moist tropical vegetation cover in the basin.Colinvaux, P.A., De Oliveira, P.E. 2000. Palaeoecology and climate of the Amazon basin during the last glacial cycle. Wiley InterScience. ( [http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/72508326/ABSTRACT abstract] )] There is debate, however, over how extensive this reduction was. Some scientists argue that the rainforest was reduced to small, isolated refugia separated by open forest and grassland;Van der Hammen, T., Hooghiemstra, H.. 2002. Neogene and Quaternary history of vegetation, climate, and plant diversity in Amazonia. Elsevier Science Ltd. ( [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0277-3791(99)00024-4 abstract] )] other scientists argue that the rainforest remained largely intact but extending less far to the North, South, and East than is seen today.cite journal
last=Colinvaux | first=P. A.
coauthors=De Oliveira, P. E.; Bush, M. B.
title=Amazonian and neotropical plant communities on glacial time-scales: The failure of the aridity and refuge hypotheses
journal=Quaternary Science Reviews
date=January 2000 | volume=19 | issue=1-5
pages=141-169 | doi=10.1016/S0277-3791(99)00059-1 ] This debate has proved difficult to resolve because the practical limitations of working in the rainforest mean that data sampling is biased away from the center of the Amazon basin, and both explanations are reasonably well supported by the available data.

Based on archaeological evidence from an excavation at Caverna da Pedra Pintada, human inhabitants first settled in the Amazon region at least 11,200 years ago. [cite journal
last=Roosevelt | first=A. C.
coauthors=da Costa, M. Lima; Machado, C. Lopes;Michab, M.; Mercier, N.; Valladas, H.; Feathers, J.;Barnett, W.; da Silveira, M. Imazio; Henderson, A.;Sliva, J.; Chernoff, B.; Reese, D. S.; Holman, J. A.;Toth, N.; Schick, K.;
title=Paleoindian Cave Dwellers in the Amazon: The Peopling of the Americas
journal=Science | date=1996-04-19 | volume=272
issue=5260 | pages=373–384
doi=10.1126/science.272.5260.373 ] Subsequent development led to late-prehistoric settlements along the periphery of the forest by 1250 CE, which induced alterations in the forest cover. [cite journal
last=Heckenberger | first=Michael J.
coauthors=Kuikuro, Afukaka; Kuikuro, Urissapá Tabata; Russell, J. Christian; Schmidt, Morgan; Fausto, Carlos; Franchetto, Bruna
title=Amazonia 1492: Pristine Forest or Cultural Parkland?
journal=Science | date=2003-09-19 | volume=301
issue=5640 | pages=1710–1714
doi=10.1126/science.1086112 ] Biologists believe that a population density of 0.2 persons/km² is the maximum that can be sustained in the rain forest through hunting. Hence, agriculture is needed to host a larger population. [cite journal
last=Meggers | first=Betty J.
title=Revisiting Amazonia Circa 1492
journal=Science | date=2003-12-19 | volume=302
issue=5653 | pages=2067–2070
doi=10.1126/science.302.5653.2067b ] The first European to travel the length of the Amazon river was Francisco de Orellana in 1542.

Biodiversity

Wet tropical forests are the most species-rich biome, and tropical forests in the Americas are consistently more species rich than the wet forests in Africa and Asia.Turner, I.M. 2001. "The ecology of trees in the tropical rain forest". Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-80183-4] As the largest tract of tropical rainforest in the Americas, the Amazonian rainforests have unparalleled biodiversity. One in ten known species in the world live in the Amazon Rainforest. [cite web
url = http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildplaces/amazon/index.cfm
title = Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Plants, Amazon River Animals
publisher = World Wide Fund for Nature
accessdate = 2008-05-06]

The region is home to about 2.5 million insect species, [ [http://travel.mongabay.com/brazil/brazil_amazon_index.htm] ] tens of thousands of plants, and some 2000 birds and mammals. To date, at least 40,000 plant species, 3,000 fish, 1,294 birds, 427 mammals, 428 amphibians, and 378 reptiles have been scientifically classified in the region.cite journal
author=Da Silva, Jose Maria Cardoso "et al"
title=The Fate of the Amazonian Areas of Endemism
journal=Conservation Biology | year=2005
volume=19 | issue=3 | pages=689–694
doi=10.1111/j.1523-1739.2005.00705.x ] Scientists have described between 96,660 and 128,843 invertebrate species in Brazil alone.cite journal
last = Lewinsohn
first = Thomas M.
coauthors = Paulo Inácio Prado
year = 2005
month = June
title = How Many Species Are There in Brazil?
journal = Conservation Biology
volume = 19
issue = 3
pages = 619–624
doi = 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2005.00680.x]

The diversity of plant species is the highest on Earth with some experts estimating that one square kilometer may contain over 75,000 types of trees and 150,000 species of higher plants. One square kilometer of Amazon rainforest can contain about 90,790 tonnes of living plants. This constitutes the largest collection of living plants and animal species in the world. One in five of all the birds in the world live in the rainforests of the Amazon. To date, an estimated 438,000 species of plants of economic and social interest have been registered in the region with many more remaining to be discovered or catalogued. [cite web
url=http://www.travelsouth-america.com/amazon.html
title=Amazon Rainforest
publisher=South AmericaTravel Guide
accessdate=2008-08-19]

The rainforest contains several species that can pose a hazard. Among the largest predatory creatures are the Black Caiman, Jaguar and Anaconda. In the river, electric eels can produce an electric shock that can stun or kill, while Piranha are known to bite and injure humans. [cite web
title=Piranha 'less deadly than feared'
date=2007-07-02 | publisher=BBC News Online
author=Staff | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6259946.stm
accessdate=2007-07-02 ] Various species of poison dart frogs secrete lipophilic alkaloid toxins through their flesh. There are also numerous parasites and disease vectors. Vampire bats dwell in the rainforest and can spread the rabies virus. [cite journal
author=da Rosa, Elizabeth S. T. "et al"
title=Bat-transmitted Human Rabies Outbreaks, Brazilian Amazon
journal=Emerging Infectious Diseases
year=2006 | month=August | volume=12
issue=8 | pages=1197–1202
url=http://origin.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no08/pdfs/05-0929.pdf
accessdate=2008-10-11 ] Malaria, yellow fever and Dengue fever can also be contracted in the Amazon region.

Deforestation

Deforestation is the conversion of forested areas to non-forested areas. The main sources of deforestation in the Amazon are human settlement and development of the land. [cite book
author=Various
editor=Bierregaard, Richard; Gascon, Claude; Lovejoy, Thomas E.; Mesquita, Rita
title=Lessons from Amazonia: The Ecology and Conservation of a Fragmented Forest
year=2001 | publisher=Yale University Press
isbn=0300084838 ] Prior to the early 1960s, access to the forest's interior was highly restricted, and the forest remained basically intact.cite journal
author=Kirby, Kathryn R.; Laurance, William F.; Albernaz, Ana K.; Schroth, Götz; Fearnside, Philip M.; Bergen, Scott; M. Venticinque, Eduardo; Costa, Carlos da
title=The future of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon
journal=Futures | year=2006
volume=38 | issue=4 | pages=432–453
doi=10.1016/j.futures.2005.07.011 ] Farms established during the 1960s was based on crop cultivation and the slash and burn method. However, the colonists were unable to manage their fields and the crops due to the loss of soil fertility and weed invasion.Watkins and Griffiths, J. (2000). Forest Destruction and Sustainable Agriculture in the Brazilian Amazon: a Literature Review (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Reading, 2000). Dissertation Abstracts International, 15-17] 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 and more land. These farming practices led to deforestation and caused extensive environmental damage. [cite book
first=M. | last=Williams | year=2006
title=Deforesting the Earth: From Prehistory to Global Crisis
publisher=The University of Chicago Press
edition=Abridged edition
location=Chicago, IL | isbn=0226899470 ]

Between 1991 and 2000, the total area of forest lost in the Amazon rose from 415,000 to 587,000 km², with most of the lost forest becoming pasture for cattle.Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) (2004)] 70% of formerly forested land in the Amazon, and 91% of land deforested since 1970, is used for livestock pasture. [cite book
author=Steinfeld, Henning; Gerber, Pierre; Wassenaar, T. D.; Castel, Vincent
year=2006 | accessdate=2008-08-19
url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.htm
title=Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options
publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
isbn=9251055718 ] [cite web
last=Margulis | first=Sergio | year=2004
title=Causes of Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon
work=World Bank Working Paper No. 22
publisher=The World Bank
location=Washington D.C. | isbn=0821356917
url=http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2004/02/02/000090341_20040202130625/Rendered/PDF/277150PAPER0wbwp0no1022.pdf
accessdate=2008-09-04] In addition, Brazil is currently the second-largest global producer of soybeans after the United States. The needs of soy farmers have been used to validate many of the controversial transportation projects that are currently developing in the Amazon. The first two highways successfully opened up the rain forest and led to increased settlement and deforestation. The mean annual deforestation rate from 2000 to 2005 (22,392 km² per year) was 18% higher than in the previous five years (19,018 km² per year). [Barreto, P.; Souza Jr. C.; Noguerón, R.; Anderson, A. & Salomão, R. 2006. [http://www.imazon.org.br/publicacoes/publicacao.asp?id=357 "Human Pressure on the Brazilian Amazon Forests"] . [http://www.imazon.org.br/ Imazon] . Retrieved September 28, 2006. (The [http://www.imazon.org.br/ Imazon] web site contains many resources relating to the Brazilian Amazonia.)] At the current rate, in two decades the Amazon Rainforest will be reduced by 40%. [(National Geographic, January 2007)]

Conservation and climate change

Environmentalists are concerned about the loss of biodiversity which will result from destruction of the forest, and also about the release of the carbon contained within the vegetation, which could accelerate global warming. Amazonian evergreen forests account for about 10% of the world's terrestrial primary productivity and 10% of the carbon stores in ecosystemscite journal
last=Melillo | first=J. M.
coauthors=McGuire, A. D.; Kicklighter, D. W.; Moore III, B.; Vörösmarty, C. J.; Schloss, A. L.
title=Global climate change and terrestrial net primary production
journal=Nature | date=1993-05-20 | volume=363
pages=234-240 | doi=10.1038/363234a0 ] — of the order of 1.1 x 10¹¹ metric tonnes of carbon.cite journal
last=Tian | first=H.
coauthors=Melillo, J.M.; Kicklighter, D.W.; McGuire, A.D.; Helfrich III, J.; Moore III, B.; Vörösmarty, C.J.
title=Climatic and biotic controls on annual carbon storage in Amazonian ecosystems
journal=Global Ecology and Biogeography | date=July 2000 | volume=9
issue=4 | pages=315-335 | doi=10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00198.x ] Amazonian forests are estimated to have accumulated 0.62 ± 0.37 tons of carbon per hectare per year between 1975 and 1996.

One computer model of future climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions shows that the Amazon rainforest could become unsustainable under conditions of severely reduced rainfall and increased temperatures, leading to an almost complete loss of rainforest cover in the basin by 2100. [Cox, Betts, Jones, Spall and Totterdell. 2000. [http://www.nature.com/uidfinder/10.1038/35041539 "Acceleration of global warming due to carbon-cycle feedbacks in a coupled climate model"] . Nature, November 9, 2000. (subscription required)] Radford, T. 2002. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,782526,00.html "World may be warming up even faster"] . "The Guardian".] However, simulations of Amazon basin climate change across many different models are not consistent in their estimation of any rainfall response, ranging from weak increases to strong decreases.Houghton, J.T. "et al". 2001. [http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/384.htm Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis] . Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.] The result indicates that the rainforest could be threatened though the 21st century by climate change in addition to deforestation.

In 1989, environmentalist C.M. Peters and two colleagues have stated there is not only a biological incentive to protecting the rainforest, but also an economic one. One hectare in the Peruvian Amazon has been calculated to have a value of $6820 if intact forest is sustainably harvested for fruits, latex, and timber; $1000 if clear-cut for commercial timber (not sustainably harvested); or $148 if used as cattle pasture.cite journal
last=Peters | first=C.M.
coauthors=Gentry, A. H. & Mendelsohn, R. O.
title=Valuation of an Amazonian forest
journal=Nature | year=1989 | volume=339
pages=656-657 ]

As indigenous territories continue to be destroyed by deforestation, and ecocide, such as in the Peruvian AmazonDean, Bartholomew. (2003) State Power and Indigenous Peoples in Peruvian Amazonia: A Lost Decade, 1990-2000. In "The Politics of Ethnicity Indigenous Peoples in Latin American States" David Maybury-Lewis, Ed. Harvard University Press] indigenous peoples' rainforest communities continue to disappear, while others, like the Urarina continue to struggle to fight for their cultural survival and the fate of their forested territories. Meanwhile, the relationship between nonhuman primates in the subsistence and symbolism of indigenous lowland South American peoples has gained increased attention, as has ethno-biology and community-based conservation efforts.

From 2002 to 2006, the conserved land in the Amazon Rainforest has almost tripled and deforestation rates have dropped up to 60%. About convert|1000000|km2|acre have been put onto some sort of conservation, which adds up to a current amount of convert|1730000|km2|acre. [cite journal
last=Cormier | first=L.
title=A Preliminary Review of Neotropical Primates in the Subsistence and Symbolism of Indigenous Lowland South American Peoples
journal=Ecological and Environmental Anthropology
date=April 16, 2006 | volume=2 | issue=1 | pages=14-32
url=http://eea.anthro.uga.edu/index.php/eea/article/view/10/11
accessdate=2008-09-04 ]

Remote sensing

The use of remotely sensed data is dramatically improving conservationists' knowledge of the Amazon Basin. Given the objectivity and lowered costs of satellite-based land cover analysis, it appears likely that remote sensing technology will be an integral part of assessing the extent and damage of deforestation in the basin. [cite journal
author=Wynne, R. H.; Joseph, K. A.; Browder, J. O.; Summers, P. M.
title=A Preliminary Review of Neotropical Primates in the Subsistence and Symbolism of Indigenous Lowland South American Peoples
journal=International Journal of Remote Sensing
year=2007 | volume=28 | pages=1299-1315
url=http://eea.anthro.uga.edu/index.php/eea/article/viewArticle/23
accessdate=2008-09-04 ] Furthermore, remote sensing is the best and perhaps only possible way to study the Amazon on a large-scale. [cite journal
last=Asner | first=Gregory P.
coauthors=Knapp, David E.; Cooper, Amanda N.; Bustamante, Mercedes M.C.; Olander, Lydia P.
title=Ecosystem Structure throughout the Brazilian Amazon from Landsat Observations and Automated Spectral Unmixing
journal=Earth Interactions | date=June 2005
volume=9 | issue=1 | pages=1–31 | doi=10.1175/EI134.1 ] The use of remote sensing for the conservation of the Amazon is also being used by the indigenous tribes of the basin to protect their tribal lands from commercial interests. Using handheld GPS devices and programs like Google Earth, members of the Trio Tribe, who live in the rainforests of southern Suriname, map out their ancestral lands to help strengthen their territorial claims. [Isaacson, Andy. 2007. With the Help of GPS, Amazonian Tribes Reclaim the Rain Forest. Wired 15.11: http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/magazine/15-11/ps_amazon ] Currently, most tribes in the Amazon do not have clearly defined boundaries, which make their territories easy targets for commercial poaching of natural resources. Through the use of cheap mapping technology, the Trio Tribe hopes to protect its ancestral land.

In order to accurately map the biomass of the Amazon, and subsequent carbon related emissions, the classification of tree growth stages within different parts of the forest are crucial. In 2006 Tatiana Kuplich organized the trees of the Amazon into four categories: (1) mature forest, (2) regenerating forest [less than three years] , (3) regenerating forest [between three and five years of regrowth] , and (4) regenerating forest [eleven to eighteen years of continued development] . [cite journal
last=Kuplich | first=Tatiana M.
title=Classifying regenerating forest stages in Amazônia using remotely sensed images and a neural network
journal=Forest Ecology and Management | date=October 2006
volume=234 | issue=1-3 | pages=1-9 | doi=10.1016/j.foreco.2006.05.066 ] The researcher used a combination of Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and Thematic Mapper (TM) to accurately place the different portions of the Amazon into one of the four classifications.

Impact of Amazon drought

In 2005, parts of the Amazon basin experienced the worst drought in 100 years, [ [http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2005/2005-10-24-05.asp Environmental News Service - Amazon Drought Worst in 100 Years] ] and there were indications that 2006 could have been a second successive year of drought. [ [http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0717-07.htm Drought Threatens Amazon Basin - Extreme conditions felt for second year running] ] A 23 July 2006 article in the UK newspaper "The Independent" reported Woods Hole Research Center results showing that the forest in its present form could survive only three years of drought. [ [http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1191932.ece "Amazon rainforest 'could become a desert' "] , The Independent, July 23, 2006. Retrieved September 28, 2006.] [ [http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1191880.ece "Dying Forest: One year to save the Amazon"] , The Independent, July 23, 2006. Retrieved September 28, 2006.] Scientists at the Brazilian National Institute of Amazonian Research argue in the article that this drought response, coupled with the effects of deforestation on regional climate, are pushing the rainforest towards a "tipping point" where it would irreversibly start to die. It concludes that the forest is on the brink of being turned into savanna or desert, with catastrophic consequences for the world's climate.

According to the WWF, the combination of climate change and deforestation increases the drying effect of dead trees that fuels forest fires. [ [http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/index.cfm?uNewsID=64220 "Climate change a threat to Amazon rainforest, warns WWF"] , World Wide Fund for Nature, March 22, 2006. Retrieved September 28, 2006.]

Territorial contest

Some politicians and journalists believe that the Amazon is an international area and belongs to all humanity. [http://www.terra.com.br/istoe/edicoes/2012/imagens/brasilamazonia6_28.jpg] Al Gore said in 1989: "Contrary to what Brazilians think, the Amazon is not their property, it belongs to all of us." [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2039654/Brazil-can-preserve-Amazon-rainforest-without-outside-help,-says-president.html Brazil can preserve Amazon rainforest without outside help, says president] ] There is much controversy on this in Brazilian press, government and society suggesting this argument hurts the nation's sovereignty. [ [http://www.estadao.com.br/geral/not_ger178497,0.htm Estadao.com.br :: Geral :: Soberania sobre Amazônia é brasileira, diz presidente do STF ] ]

In May 2008, "The New York Times" wrote an article titled "Whose Rain Forest Is This, Anyway?" [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/weekinreview/18barrionuevo.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=amazon&st=nyt&oref=slogin Does the Amazon Belong to Brazil — or the Whole World? - New York Times ] ] The article was received controversially in Brazil [ [http://oglobo.globo.com/pais/mat/2008/05/18/_de_quem_a_amazonia_afinal_diz_ny_times_-427439053.asp 'De quem é a Amazônia, afinal?', diz 'NY Times' - O Globo Online ] ] [ [http://ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/brasil/2008/05/19/minc_critica_texto_do_new_york_times_sobre_amazonia_1318863.html Brasil - Último Segundo - Minc critica texto do New York Times sobre Amazônia ] ] forcing the President Lula to answer "the Amazon belongs to Brazilians," [ [http://news.uk.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=8384902 MSN News UK - news & weather ] ] [ [http://g1.globo.com/Noticias/Politica/0,,MUL536698-5601,00-AMAZONIA+BRASILEIRA+TEM+DONO+DIZ+LULA.html G1 > Política - NOTÍCIAS - Amazônia brasileira tem dono, diz Lula ] ] and later with more aggressive response: "North Americans have no moral authority to complain about Amazonia, they point fingers dirty with oil." [ [http://g1.globo.com/Noticias/Politica/0,,MUL590743-5601,00-TODO+MUNDO+ACHA+QUE+PODE+METER+DEDO+NA+AMAZONIA+DIZ+LULA.html G1 > Política - NOTÍCIAS - 'Todo mundo acha que pode meter dedo na Amazônia', diz Lula ] ] [ [http://noticias.uol.com.br/ultnot/internacional/2008/06/03/ult1859u196.jhtm "Dedos que apontam contra biocombustíveis estão sujos de óleo e carvão", diz Lula em Roma - 03/06/2008 - UOL Últimas Notícias - Internacional ] ]

There is a debate in Brazilian society if the Amazon could be invaded resulting in a war. [ [http://www.temnoticia.com.br/noticia.asp?cod=1608 :: Tem Notícia :: O Jornal do pensamento Brasileiro ] ] [http://terramagazine.terra.com.br/interna/0,,OI1141268-EI6622,00.html] [ [http://www.oquintopoder.com.br/soberania/ed62_II.php :::: Soberania Nacional :::: ] ] The Brazilian Amazon border is patrolled and guarded by the Brazilian Army. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/portuguese/noticias/2002/020227_amazoniacb1.shtml Exército vigia fronteira com Colômbia | BBC Brasil | BBC World Service ] ] [ [http://portalamazonia.globo.com/noticias.php?idN=67566 NOTÍCIAS 24 HORAS - Exército realiza operação 'Guardião da Fronteira' na Amazônia- Portal Amazônia ] ] [ [http://www.exercito.gov.br/05notic/paineis/2007/10out07/visimin.htm : Exército Brasileiro - Braço Forte, Mão Amiga : ] ]

ee also

* Peruvian Amazon
* Amanye
* Amazon Basin
* Amazon River
* Atlantic Forest
* Climate change
* Conservation ethic
* Indigenous peoples in Brazil
* Uncontacted peoples
* Global warming
* List of plants of Amazon Rainforest vegetation of Brazil
* Legal logging and illegal logging
* Sistema de Vigilância da Amazônia
* Bandeirantes
* Belém
* Iquitos
* Manaus
*

References and footnotes

*Sheil, D. and S. Wunder. 2002. The value of tropical forest to local communities: complications, caveats, and cautions. Conservation Ecology 6(2): 9. [http://www.consecol.org/vol6/iss2/art9]
*"Deforestation." "World Geography." Columbus, Ohio: McGraw-Hill/Glencoe, 2000. 202-204

Video

* [http://www.documen.tv/asset/About_Tristes_Tropiques.html Documentary: About Tristes Tropiques]
* [http://www.documen.tv/asset/Guerre_Pacification_Amazonie_film.html Documentary: War of Pacification in Amazonia]

External links

* [http://www.amazonia.org.br/english Amazonia.org.br] Good daily updated Amazon information database on the web, held by Friends of The Earth - Brazilian Amazon.
* [http://www.amazonia.org/ amazonia.org] Sustainable Development in the Extractive Reserve of the Baixo Rio Branco - Rio Jauaperi - Brazilian Amazon.
* [http://www.amazon-rainforest.org/ Amazon-Rainforest.org] Information about the amazon rainforest, its people, places of interest, and how everyone can help.
* [http://www.siamazonia.org.pe/ Siamazonía - Sistema de Información de la Diversidad Biológica y Ambiental de la Amazonía Peruana] (Peruvian Amazonia Information Facility)
* [http://www.iiap.org.pe/ IIAP - Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana] (Peruvian Amazonia Institute for the Investigation)
* [http://www.inpa.gov.br/ Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia] (National Institute of Amazonian Research)
* [http://www.whrc.org/ Woods Hole Research Center]
* [http://www.pbs.org/journeyintoamazonia/ Journey Into Amazonia]
* [http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/ The Amazon: The World's Largest Rainforest]
* [http://www.panda.org/amazon/ WWF in the Amazon rainforest]
* [http://www.rainforestweb.org/ RainforestWeb.org - World Rainforest Information Portal] ( [http://www.rainforestweb.org/Rainforest_Regions/South_America/ South America] )
* [http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon - year by year data]
* [http://www.amazonalliance.org/ Amazon Alliance] Information about the indigenous peoples of the Amazon rainforest and their struggles to protect their homeland.
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/4351863.stm US blocks forest protection plan]
* [http://travel.mongabay.com/brazil/brazil_amazon_index.htm Photos / Pictures of the Amazon Rainforest]