· Written by Blueprint Collaborative
What is the Amazon?
The Amazon (also known as Amazonia) is much more than just a forest. It is the lung of the world, a vital region that covers 6.7 million square kilometers of tropical forest, home to thousands of species and cultures. It is home to the longest river on the planet, the Amazon, which transports the largest amount of fresh water to the oceans, and generates 20% of the fresh air we breathe. The Amazon's ecosystems regulate the global climate and sustain life on Earth.
But the Amazon is not only a treasure trove of biodiversity, it is also home to 511 indigenous cultures, ancestral guardians who have lived in harmony with this land for generations.
Please check out these additional facts from a wonderful article from Conservation International:
- The Amazon boasts the richest biodiversity of any ecosystem on the planet. “Harboring at least 10% of the world’s known species… one region of the Ecuadorian Amazon is regarded as the most biodiverse area of land in the world.” (The Ikiam Ecological Reserve is located in the Ecuadorian Amazon.)
- Amazonia stores so much carbon. The Amazon Rainforest does much of the heavy lifting, removing a yearly total of 1.2 billion metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere.
- Indigenous Peoples legally own more than a quarter of the Amazon.
- Amazonia is shrinking fast. In the past 60 years, more than 13% of the Amazon has been deforested — an area nearly the size of Alaska.