The Amazon Rainforest

Nội Dung Chính

The Amazon Rainforest, also known as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadlead tropical rainforest located in South America. It covers most of the Amazon basin which spans over approximately 7 million kilometers. This region includes territories belonging to the nine (9) nations of Brazil, Peru, Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.

The Amazon rainforest accounts for over 50 per cent of Earth’s remaining rainforests. It is the largest, most biodiverse tropical rainforest on the planet. The formation of the rainforest has been estimated to have occur during the Eocene era (approximately 56 to 34 million years ago), during which time there was a global reduction of tropical temperatures when the Atlantic Ocean had sufficiently widened, providing a warm, moist climate to the Amazon Basin.

The Amazon rainforest has been in existence for at least 55 million years. Following the Cretaceous Paleogene extinction event, the extinction of the dinosaurs and the wetter climate may have allowed the continental spread of the tropical rainforest. Climate fluctuations over the past 34 million years, spanning the Oligocene, Middle Miosene and glacial periods, savanna regions have expanded into and contracted from the tropical rainforest, however, the Amazon still managed to thrive during these fluctuations, which allowed for survival and extinction of several plant and animal species.

Wet tropical forests are the most species-rich biomes. Tropical forests in the Americas are consistently more species-rich that the wet forests of Africa and Asia. The Amazon rainforest has unparalleled biodiversity with the largest collection of living plant and animal species in the world, and is the largest tropical rainforest in Americas.

To date, the Amazon rainforest contains an estimated 438,000 species of plants of economic and social interest, with many more remaining to be discovered or catalogued, and a total number of tree species estimated at 16, 000.

The Amazon rainforest is home to many species of animals –approximately 2.5 million insect species, 2,2000 fish spcies, 1,293 species of birds, 427 mammalian species, 428 of amphibians and 378 reptile species have been scientifically classified in this region. Scientists have also estimated between 96,660 and 128, 843 invertebrate species in Brazil alone. There are also several hazardous predatory creatures such as the black caiman, jaguar, cougar, the anaconda, electric eels, piranha, poison ous dart frogs and vampire bats. Malaria, dengue and yellow fever can also be contracted in the Amazon.

Environmentalist are concerned, however, about the loss of biodiversity that will result from destruction of the forest and the release of the carbon dioxide within the vegetation, which could accelerate global warming. Ecologists fear that the Amazonian 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.

Between 1452 and 1493, a series of papal bulls –Dum Diversa, Romanus Pontifex and Inter caetera –paved the way for the European colonization and Catholic missions in the New World. Dum Diversa authorized Afonso V of Portugal to conquer Saracens and pagas and consign them to “perpetual servitude”, Romanus Pontifes confirmed to the Crown of Portugal dominion over all lands south of Cape Bojador in Africa, as well as encouraging the seizure of lands of Saracen Turks and non-Christians, and Inter caetera which granted to the Catholic Majesties of Ferdinand and Isabella all lands to the west and south of a pole-to-pole line 100 leagues west and south of any of the islands of the Azores or the Cape Verde Islands. Together, these authorized the European Christian nations to “take possession” of non-Christian lands and encouraged subduing and converting the non-Christian people of Africa and the Americas. In 1494, Portugal and Spain, the two great maritime powers of that era signed the Treaty of Tordesillas in the expectation of new lands being discovered in the New World. They agreed that all the land outside of Europe should be controlled by the two countries, establishing an imaginary line along a north-south meridian, where lands to the west of which would belong to Spain and all lands to the East of the meridian would belong to Portugal.

Over the past 15 years, several heart-breaking stories about the devastation of the flora and fauna of the Amazon basin. Although the Brazilian Amazon has been plagued by a host of environmental issues, the rainforests of Ecuador and Peru have gone relatively untouched.

As indigenous territories are continued to be destroyed by ecocide and deforestation, Native Amerindians’ rainforest communities continue to disappear while others continue to struggle for their cultural survival and the fate of their forested territories. Over the course of the 21 st century thus far, ethno-biology and community-based conservation efforts have gained increased attention. From 2002 to 2006, the conserved land in the Amazon rainforest almost tripled and deforestation rates dropped up to 60 per cent. In April 2019, the Ecuadorian court stopped oil exploration activities in 1,800 square kilometers of the Amazon rainforest. In July of the same year the Ecuadorian courts forbade the government to sell territory with forests to oil companies, and in September the US and Brazil agreed to promote private-sector in the Amazon and also pledged a $100 million conservation fund for the Amazon.

Approximately 56 per cent of the phosphorus-rich dust that fertilizes the Amazon rainforest comes from the Bodélé depression located in Northern Chad in the Sahara Desert. This dust replaces the equivalent amount of phosphorus washed away by rains and floods annually in the Amazon. It is estimated that an average of 182 million tons of dust are windblown from the Sahara over the Atlantic annually.

A 2009 study found that a 4-degree Celsius rise above pre-industrial levels in global temperatures by 2100 would kill 85 per cent of the rainforest, while a rise of 3 degrees would kill 75 per cent of the Amazon. Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest region has a negative impact on local climate, and was one of the main causes of the severe drought of 2014-2015 in Brazil.

Approximately 427 species of mammal are found in the Amazon, the majority of which are bats and rodents. It is home to the world’s largest rodent, the capybara which can weigh up to 200 pounds. In the waters of the Amazon there are two species of freshwater dolphin –the Amazon river dolphin also known as the pink river dolphin or boto, and the Bolivian river dolphin.

Edantates, including sloths, anteaters and armadillos are common to the Amazon tainforest and only exist in the Americas.

The Poison Dart Frog, formerly known as the poison arrow frog, is the common name of a group of frogswhich are native to tropical Central and South America. They are diurnal and often have brightly coloured bodies, which is correlated with the toxicity of the species. Some species exhibit extremely bright colouration along with high toxicity, while others have cryptic colouration with minimal to no observed toxicity. Toxicity is derived from their diet of mites, termites and ants, while species with low or no toxicity eat a larger variety of prey. They are termed “dart frogs” due to the use of their toxic secretions by indigenous Amerindians to poison the tips of blow darts.

The Amazon River in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world and is also classified as the longest. It has an average discharge of about 209,000 cubic meters per second –approximately 6,591 cubic kilometers per annum. The Amazon represents 20 per cent of the global riverine discharge to the ocean, and is the largest drainage basin in the world with an area of approximately 7,050,000 square kilometers.

Nature is the source of all true knowledge. She has her own logic, her own laws, she has no effect without cause nor invention without necessity.

Leonardo Da Vinci

It is said that the name Amazon arose from a was fought by Spanish explorer and conquistador, Francisco de Orellana, against the Tapuyas amongst other tribes. The women of the tribes fought alongside the men as was customary among the native peoples, and so Orellana derived the name Amazonas from the mythical Amazons of Asia as described by Herodotus and Diodorus in Greek legends. Orellana was also the first European to travel the length of the Amazon River. He observed that a complex civilization was flourishing along the Amazon in the 1540s. This civilization is believed to have been devastated by the spread of foreign diseases such as measles and small pox brought over to the Americas by the Europeans.

Archaeological evidence from an excavation at Caverna da Pedra Pintada suggests that the first human inhabitants settled in the Amazon approximately 11, 200 years ago. For a long time, it was touted that the Amazon rainforest was only sparsely populated throughout its history, however, recent anthropological findings suggest that the region was in fact densely populated, estimating approximately 5 million people to have lived in the region circa 1500 CE. This number, however, swindled to about 1 million by 1900 and less than 200,000 by the early 1980s.

Numerous geoglyphs (large designs or motifs produced on the ground and typically formed by clastic rocks or other durable elements of the landscape for example stones, stone fragments, live trees, gravel or earth), have been discovered on deforested land in the Amazon, dating between 1 and 1250 CE. These geoglyphs have thus resulted in furthering the validity of claims about the vastness of Pre-Columbian civilizations, as well as presented evidence that the Amazon rainforest has been shaped by man for at least 11,000 years, as opposed to being a pristine wilderness until the arrival of European explorers.

Evidence of forest gardening and terra preta is found over large areas in the Amazon rainforest, and is now widely accepted as a product of indigenous soil management. The development of this fertile soil allowed agriculture and the practice of controlling the growth, composition and quality of forests to meet the needs of the society from a previously hostile environment, suggests that large portions of the Amazon rainforest are possibly the result ot centuries of human management, instead of naturally occurring as previously thought. In the region of the Xingu tribe there remains some large settlements in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, amongst which there is evidence of roads, bridges and large plazas.

There is sufficient evidence suggesting that areas surrounding the Amazon River were home to complex, large-scale indigenous Amerindian societies such as chiedoms-developed cities and town. It is estimated that by the time Orellana travelled across the Amazon in 1541, more than 3 million indigenous people lived around the Amazon. These settlements dating prior to European arrival created highly developed civilizations which were responsible for the emergence of South America’s highland agrarian systems. Early settlements were typically based on low-lying hills or mounds. The indigenous inhabitants of the Amazon rainforest employed the use of selective cultivation involving crop rotation and planting special plants to enrich the soil, as well as the use of fire. Scientists argue that by burning areas of the forest repetitiously, indigenous communities were able to make the land fertile and sustainable for large-scale agriculture necessary to support the large populations of indigenous people. This slash-and-burn technique is estimated to have begun around 11,000 years ago.

Most indigenous tribes in South Armeica live in settled villages near the tributaries of the Amazon and Orinoco rivers, and grow fruits and vegetables to provide food for these settlements. The Amazon is the ancestral home of approximately 1 million Native Indians, divided into about 400 tribes, each with its own language, culture and territory.

Many have had contact with outsiders for almost 500 years while other ‘uncontacted’ tribes have had no contact at all. A few of these tribes are nomadic, and tend to live deep in the forest away from the rivers. They grow few crops as they are more hunter-gatherer in nature. Five hundred years after the arrival of the first Europeans and many Indians are still dying at the hands of outsiders, as entire tribes continue to face threat of annihilation from corporate entities in the mining, logging and oil industries.

The 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfire season experienced a surge in fires occurring in the Amazon rainforest and Amazon biome within Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Peru during this year’sdry season. Forest fires normally occur during the dry season as slash-and-burn methods are used to clear the forest to accommodate agriculture, livestock, logging and mining, which leads to extensive deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.

Forest clearing is illegal, however enforcement of environmental protection is not sufficiently strict. This rapid increase in rainforest fires has led to international concern over the future of the existence of the Amazon as it is the world’s largest terrestrial carbon dioxide sink and plays a great role in mitigating Global Warming.

As of August 29 th , 2019, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espacials, INPE) reported more than 80,000 fires across all of Brazil –a 77 per cent year-to-year increase in forest fires. It has been estimated that over 906 thousand hectares of forest within the Amazon biome has been lost to fires in 2019.

In addition to the impact on global climate, the fires created environmental concerns from the excess carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide from the fires’ emissions, the potential effects on the biodiversity of the Amazon and threats to the indigenous tribes that live there.

The increase in forest fires has raised concerns among international leaders, environmental nongovernmental organizations (ENGOs). The increased incidence of fires has been attributed to Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s pro-business policies that has significantly weakened environmental protection and encouraged deforestation of the Amazon after he took office in January 2019.

Initially, Bolsonaro rejected international calls to take action against the forest fires, and remained ambivalent towards the increased incident being an environmental threat, asserting that the criticism was sensationalist in nature. However, after increased pressure from the international community, Bolsonaro dispatched over 44,000 Brazilian troops and allocated funds to fight fires as well as signed a decree to prevent such forest fires for a 60-day period.

The Amazon is one of our greatest natural treasures and is a place where natural and cultural diversity abound. It is disheartening to think how little attention we give it, despite its importance to the Earth’s climate stability and the vast variety of wildlife it supports. We need to speak out against the degradation of the Amazon and begin lobbying for actionable ways to ensure its sustainability and survival.

The Amazon Rainforest – Issuu