The Amazon

The Amazon, also known as Rainforest, is located in South America. It covers nine nations: Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. This biome is the largest tropical rain forest and river basin and it has an incomparable biodiversity, where the quantity of different plant species is the largest on Earth. To illustrate what I just stated, one in ten known species on Earth exists in the Amazon, a region comprising 1.4 billion acres of dense forests, half of the planet’s remaining tropical forests, 4,100 miles of winding rivers and 2.6 million square miles of land, which represents 40 percent of South America.
Despite the fact that these statistics are recognized worldwide, deforestation is the biggest problem in the region. Trees have been torn down in the search for short term benefits. Extensive cattle ranching and agricultural expansion also contribute to this problem. A poorly planned infrastructure and the illegal and unsustainable extraction of natural resources, as well as climate change, make the situation even worse. Also, according to the WWF website: "At current deforestation rates, 55% of the Amazon's rainforests could be gone by 2030".
People think that the complaints about deforestation are only releated to the thousands of species that could be lost, they often forget that the Amazon is also home to 33 million people, including 1.6 million indigenous people from 370 ethnic groups. These people depend on the Amazon to provide their food, shelter and medicines. Most importantly, the region of the Amazon is fundamental to maintain global climate balance and directly influences the rainfall patterns in Brazil and the rest of South America.
I'm very proud to say that this amazing forest covers 49% of my country, Brazil. However, at the same time, I'm ashamed to say that there are many people who don't value it properly. And that's why 26.000 km are destroyed every year.


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References:
http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/wherewework/amazon/index.html