Why is the Amazon rainforest important?

The importance of the Amazon rainforest for local and global climate

Tropical forests and woodlands (e.g. savannas) exchange vast amounts of water and energy with the atmosphere and are thought to be important in controlling local and regional climates3.

Water released by plants into the atmosphere through evapotranspiration (evaporation and plant transpiration) and to the ocean by the rivers, influences world climate and the circulation of ocean currents. This works as a feedback mechanism, as the process also sustains the regional climate on which it depends.

Find out about the impacts of climate change on the Amazon  

The Amazon rainforest could cure you

What is the connection between the blue-green pills in your bathroom cupboard and the Amazon wildlife? The natural roots of medicine. For millennia, humans have used insects, plants and other organisms in the region for a variety of uses; and that includes agriculture, clothing and, of course, cures for diseases.

Indigenous people such as the Yanomamo and other groups of mixed ancestry (e.g. the mestizos of Peru or the caboclos of Brazil) have perfected the use of chemical compounds found in plants and animals4. Knowledge of using these plants is usually held by a medicine man (shaman), who passes on this tradition to an apprentice, a process which has been ongoing for centuries and that forms an integral part of people’s identity.

With rainforests going fast, the continuity of this knowledge for the benefit of future generations is under threat.

Untapped potential of the Amazon’s plants

Scientists believe that less than half of 1% of flowering plant species have been studied in detail for their medicinal potential.5 As the Amazon rainforest biome slowly shrinks in size, so does the richness of wildlife found in its forests, along with the potential use of plants and animals that remain undiscovered.

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1Laurance, W.F. 1999.

Gaia’s lungs: Are rainforests inhaling Earth’s excess carbon dioxide?

Natural History

(April), p. 96.
2Post et al, 1990, in Kricher 1997
3Vourlitis, G.L.

et al

, 2002.

Seasonal variations in the evapotranspiration of a transitional tropical forest of Mato Grosso, Brazil.

Water Resources Research

, Vol. 38
4 Phillips et al, 1995, in Kricher 1997
5 Cox and Balick, 1994 in Kricher 1997

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