STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014
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The Amazon forest spans more than five million km
2
and is by far
the world’s largest rainforest area,
1
representing some 55–60% of
all rainforest. The well-known reduction of deforestation in Brazil
since 2004 is globally significant, and demonstrates that controlling
deforestation is possible with resolute government action and
compatible with economic development. The situation in the Amazon
varies, however, from consistently very low deforestation rates in the
Guyana Shield region, to deforestation peaks of more than 11,000
km
2
for a single state in a single year (Mato Grosso in 2004) at the
height of the soy boom.
2
In Peru, the second largest Amazon country,
deforestation rates have been lower than in many other rainforest
countries, but recent reports show alarmingly high rates of forest
degradation.
3
In all Amazon countries large-scale development
plans represent major threats to the rainforest and the traditional
occupation and use of natural resources by indigenous peoples. A
recent assessment concludes that the accumulated pressure from
infrastructure such as roads and dams, and extractive activities for oil,
gas and minerals – but not including the pressure from agriculture
and logging
4
– may cause as much as half of the Amazon forest to
disappear in the near future.
5
Biological richness and thousands of butterflies
As the largest area of dense tropical forest, the Amazon has unique
importance. The Amazon river carries morewater and drains a larger
The Amazon
Protecting the world’s largest rainforest in a region with rapid
economic development
challenge
Source: based on Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, 2013
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Caribbean Sea
Pacific Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
Other forest cover
Intact forest landscape*
*defined as an unbroken expanse of natural ecosystems within the zone of
current forest extent, showing no signs of significant human activity and large
enough that all native biodiversity could be maintained
Tropical forest in Latin America
