Introduction

The Amazon rainforest, a wet broadleaf forest that encompasses the majority of the Amazon basin in South America, covers 2,100,000 square miles. Over half of the rainforest lies in Brazil, with Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, and Suriname close behind. With about 390 billion trees and 16,000 species, the Amazon rainforest is both the biggest and most diverse expanse of rainforest land in the world. The Amazon retains over half the planet's remaining rainforest land, and over nine different nations claim territory throughout the region (12).

Map of the Amazon rainforest
http://sulynzan2012.blogspot.com/2014/09/amazon-rainforest-map.html

The Amazon river, which runs through the rainforest, begins in the Peruvian Andes and goes over the northern half of South America. It collides with the Atlantic in Belem, Brazil, and accounts for 16% of all the world's river water. The main river is 4,080 miles long, and 28 billion gallons of water flow into the Atlantic every minute. The river basin is almost the size of the continental United States, and it covers over 40% of the South American continent (4).

The Amazon river
http://rio.wikia.com/wiki/File:Amazon_river_oxbow.jpg

The name "Amazon" is rumored to have been derived from a war Francisco de Orellana fought with various tribes of South America. Orellana created the name Amazonas based on the mythical Amazons of Asia, which are described in Greek legends (13).

History

The Amazon rainforest has been in existence for at least 55 million years, with its formation dating back into the Eocene era. After the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, the absence of dinosaurs and wetter climate caused the spread of the rainforest across the continent. It expanded again during the Middle Miocene era, but retraced during glacial periods (4).

The Eocene era, when the rainforest was formed.
http://www.corzakinteractive.com/earth-life-history/432_eocene.htm

When the continents existed as Gondwana, the Amazon river flowed Westward towards the Pacific Ocean. However, 15 million years ago, when the Andes were formed, the rise of the Andes and the collision of Brazilian and Guyana bedrock blocked the river and caused the Amazon to become an inland sea. It then resembled a swamp-like, freshwater lake (4).

The continent of Gondwana
http://historyoftheearthcalendar.blogspot.com/2014/05/may-15-devonian-gondwana.html

The formation of the Andes
http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC1EZDD_cajas-national-park?guid=f0b5ae69-c032-4845-aee6-4aef0242ddec

10 million years ago, water from the river worked its way through the sandstone and began to flow East. When the Ice Age occurred, sea levels dropped, the lake drained, and the river was once again formed. The low temperatures transformed large areas of the Amazon into Savanna and Montane forest, which divided the rainforest regions into individual "islands." When the Ice Age ended, the forest rejoined and the Amazon rainforest began to resemble the rainforest that exists today.
In the last 21,000 years, there is evidence that much of the vegetation in the rainforest has been changing due to the Last Glacial Maximum and deglaciation (4).

The Amazon rainforest today.
http://www.shedexpedition.com/amazon-rainforest/

Protection

          The protected portion of the Amazon Rainforest is divided into three types of protected areas: strictly protected areas, sustainable use areas, and indigenous lands. Each area provides a different amount and style of protection, leading to different levels of success. Because the Amazon has many important resources that are useful for various people and businesses, it is important that protection is set in place and strongly enforced in order to be effective.

An example of a community within a sustainable use zone (15).

          Strictly protected areas include biological stations, reserves, and state/national parks. These areas have proven to be the most successful in preventing exploitation and negative human impact. Sustainable use areas are less protective, allowing human inhabitance along with a low level of resource extraction (18). Indigenous lands are left primarily to natives where there is low population density anyway, and therefore a lower level of threat to the land.
Though these areas have been established and make up over 44% of the Brazilian Amazon, they have not been effectively protected until recently (14). A lack of management, staffing, and funding left many "protected" areas with no real form of enforcement to prevent deforestation and exploitation of other resources. As these areas visibly declined and were taken advantage of, the Brazilian government and conservation organizations around the world, like WWF (World Wildlife Foundation), realized something had to be done before the area that provides one in ten known species disappeared.

The result of a lack of effective protection: mass deforestation (17).

          In 2002, Brazil initiated ARPA, Amazon Region Protected Areas, which was the biggest tropical forest conservation project of all time. This project was designed to convert 150 million acres of the Amazon Rainforest into either sustainable use or strictly protected areas, as well as fund the addition of officers to enforce protection throughout these lands and others like them in the Amazon. With over $215 million dollars already available as funding for this project, organizations involved are confident that the protection of the rainforest can drastically improve (13).
Since the introduction of the plan, a study of the area conducted by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has shown a 37% decrease in the amount of deforestation occurring in the Brazilian Amazon (14). Groups like the WWF want to continue this success and spread it to other countries throughout the Amazon such as Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.

Improvement in deforestation rates and effective protection since ARPA (11).

Human Impacts and Benefits

Impacts

There are significant problems concerning human impact on the Amazon rainforest. Primarily, selective logging and forest fires, caused by humans, often lead to an annual loss of 54 billion tonnes of carbon (2). Often for commercial and agricultural use, people have been logging valuable trees, which in turn damage trees within its vicinity. The gaps caused by logging make the forest drier, which increases the risk of wildfires, resulting in a loss of carbon absorption and biodiversity (2). Fires caused by humans destroy the diversity of trees and destroy the habitats of many animals. Additionally, settlements, cattle ranching and market pressures have led to deforestation, which is when large areas of the forest are cleared, and thus have led to a loss of biodiversity, habitat degradation, loss of natural water cycling, and a loss of ability to absorb sufficient carbon dioxide, a pollutant (3).  These functions are benefits that the rainforest clearly offers yet human impact has significantly been negative. As a result, the Amazon rainforest continues to reduce in size and in biodiversity.

Benefits

There are also significant benefits that humans have from the Amazon rainforest. For example, medicine and remedies initially came through plants. The Amazon rainforest boasts nearly over 40,000 different plant species (4). Plants are vital in finding herbal cures and remedies for breakthrough medicine. Furthermore, the Amazon rainforest is vibrant with raw materials, such as mahogany, which can be sold or used to help stimulate the local or regional economy (1). Additionally, there are mineral deposits, which include silver, gold, and diamonds, which can be sold for high profits to also help stimulate the economy (1). The Amazon rainforest is also particularly beneficial to the environment. They recycle water and regulate the appropriate levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide, which is essential for the environment and the people within that region (4). Lastly, the Amazon rainforest is home to a myriad of different species and exemplifies biodiversity (4).

Future Prospects & Balance

Future Prospects:

The future of the Amazon rainforest appears bleak. The area is currently in an endangered state as the world attempts to deal with the current widespread deforestation and global warming. Unfortunately, the lack of regulations for an extended period of time has caused the rainforest to experience significantly more damage than other regions. This era of ignorance has led scientists to predict that if nothing is done to help preserve the environment, approximately 33% of the trees in the rainforest will be killed from a rise in global temperatures. One would believe that a slight rise in temperatures wouldn't affect the Amazon to a great extent, but research done by Britain's leading experts on the topic has concluded that a 2C temperature rise over pre-industrial levels would still lead to about 20-40% death over a period of 100 years. (1). If such damage occurs, the world would lose the Amazon's role as a huge "carbon sink". Doing so would lead to unstable temperatures around the world and cases of extreme weather. Additionally, the Amazon rainforest would be no more. It would be the Amazon savannah instead. This shift would lead to a reduction in biodiversity because the animals living in the region would be incapable of thriving under the new conditions and environment. Specifically, the world would be in danger of losing 10% of its biodiversity by 2100 if the rainforest disappears. (8)



Balance:

At this point, reversing the damage already done to the geographic area would be ineffective. Thus, scientists and politicians must work together to prevent further crisis from occurring and establish safe protocols for citizens and companies to follow so that at least a portion of the rainforest can sustain itself for future generations. In order to halt the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, regulations must be put into place that ban the two critical factors that lead to its disappearance: deforestation and global warming. To begin with, farmers who utilize the landscape of the Amazon need to refrain from using a technique called "Slash and Burn" agriculture as it removes most of the trees from a large area within a short period of time before the environment can adjust.

http://rainforests.mongabay.com/defor_index.htm

Policies need to be put into place that promote sustainable agriculture that doesn't cause harm to the future of the Amazon such as "non-plowing farming." (3) Furthermore, scientists should focus on rehabilitating the species of the area in order to save the endangered ones from going completely extinct. Finally, extending the protected areas will enable more of the rainforest to be kept safe so that scientists can worry about the parts of the Amazon in the worst condition. (6.)

http://rainforests.mongabay.com/defor_index.htm

Fun Facts about the Amazon

• The Amazon rainforest is home to many dangerous species, including cougars, jaguars, and anacondas (2)
• 1/5 of the world's bird species live in the forest (2)
• Over 2.5 million insect species can be found in the rainforest (2)
• The forest floor is almost completely dark (7)
• Some refer to it as the "Lungs of the Planet" because it produces over 20% of the world's oxygen (7)
• The Toucan is the loudest creature in the Amazon (1)
• It can take up to 10 minutes for the rain to reach the ground below (1)

Sunset on the Amazon river
http://www.onthegotours.com/blog/2012/11/top-10-facts-about-the-amazon-rainforest/

Works Cited

1. Adam, David. "Amazon Could Shrink by 85% Due to Climate Change, Scientists Say." The Guardian. Web. 14 Nov. 2014. 
2. AmazonRainforest Facts." Soft Schools, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2014. 24 July 2014. Web. 02 Dec. 2014. 
3. "Amazon Rainforest Importance - Save the Amazon Rainforest." Save the Amazon Rainforest RSS. Web. 1 Dec. 2014. <http://www.amazon-rainforest.org/amazon-importance.html>. 
4. "Amazon River Facts for Kids - Interesting Facts about the Amazon River." Science Kids, 
5. Barreto et al. 2005. Human Pressure in the Brazilian Amazon. AMAZON. 
6. "Brazil Environmental Issues." Brazil Environmental Issues. Web. 5 Dec. 2014. <http://www.brazil.org.za/environmental-issues.html>. 
7. Butler, Rhett. "The Amazon Rainforest." Mongabay.com. N.p., 2010. Web. 30 Nov. 2014. 
8. "Future Threats to the Amazon Rainforest." Mongabay. Web. 18 Nov. 2014. <http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0801-amazon.html>. 
9. "Human Uses of Rainforest." BBC News. BBC. Web. 2 Dec. 2014. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/ecosystems/human_uses_rainforest_rev1.shtml> 
10. Lancaster University. "Devastating human impact on the Amazon rainforest revealed." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 22 May 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140522104856.htm> 
11. Leader, Jessica. "Amazon Deforestation: NASA Images Show The Great Rainforest Disappearing." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 06 Aug. 2012. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/06/amazon-deforestation-nasa-photos_n_1748759.html> 
12. OTG Team. "Top 10 Facts about the Amazon Rainforest." The Inside Track Travel Blog. N.p., 14 Nov. 2012. Web. 02 Dec. 2014. 
13. "Problems in the Amazon." WWF. World Wildlife Fund. Web. 2 Dec. 2014. <http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/amazon/problems/ 
14. "Protected Areas Cover 44% of the Brazilian Amazon." Mongabay. N.p., 20 Apr. 2011. Web. 02 Dec. 2014. <http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0420-protected_amazon.html#sthash.vGCZ7PQ4.dpbs> 
15. "Protected Areas Work in the Amazon | I Am Wilderness." I Am Wilderness. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.<http://iamwilderness.org/2013/03/11/protected-areas-in-the-amazon/> 
16. "Protecting the Amazon for Life." WorldWildlife.org. World Wildlife Fund, 21 May 2014. Web. 02 Dec. 2014. <http://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/protecting-the-amazon-for-life> 
17. "Reversal Of Fortune: Deforestation Of Amazon Rainforest Increased By 28% Over Past Year." International Business Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2014. 
18. Silvius, Kirsten. "Protected Areas Successfully Prevent Deforestation in Amazon Rainforest | University of Michigan News." Protected Areas Successfully Prevent Deforestation in Amazon Rainforest | University of Michigan News. University of Michigan, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014. <http://www.ns.umich.edu/new/releases/21290-protected-areas-successfully-prevent-deforestation-in-amazon-rainforest> 
19. Zan, Sulyn. "Life." Amazon Rainforest Map. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014