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Amazon

The world’s biggest tropical rainforest - as well as being the world’s largest river basin. You’ll probably have heard some shocking facts about how much of the Amazon forest is being cut down - the latest figures say three football pitches disappearing per minute. But amazingly, more than three quarters of the Amazon is still intact. So we want to focus on how we’re helping save what’s left of this vast and vital natural treasure-trove.

Amazon biome and basin

A healthy Amazon is clearly a good thing…

  • Good for wildlife - half of all species on Earth are found in tropical rainforests. The Amazon contains a third of those forests. And it’s likely there are lots more species still to be found there.
  • Good for people - as well as its vast stores of valuable natural resources, the Amazon is crucial for stabilising global climate and controlling climate change.
So it’s obvious everyone should be protecting the Amazon, right? Trouble is, as usual, the environmental issues can’t be easily separated from economic and political ones.

We’ve found the best way forward is to work closely with local communities, governments and industry to create constructive, smart solutions that help both people and nature thrive in the Amazon.

What we’re doing in the Amazon

Rainforest flora

The next five years are crucial in the Amazon.

We’re determined to help protect large enough areas of the Amazon forests to preserve most of its species and natural resources, and see that it develops sustainably for the benefit of its people and the planet as a whole.

And you can help right now... For example you might have heard of our high-profile collaboration with Sky on the Sky Rainforest Rescue initiative, which aims to protect one billion trees in the state of Acre in the Brazilian Amazon. It’s just one of many ways you can help us save this precious forest for future generations.


You can…

Sponsor an acre in Acre
Adopt a jaguar
Choose forest-friendly FSC wood goods
Donate to WWF


More Amazon facts

  • The Amazon region takes up most of the top half of South America - spreading across Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela and French Guiana.
  • It’s home to hundreds of thousands of species, including threatened and endangered animals like jaguars, harpy eagles and pink river dolphins.
  • The Amazon is also the world’s largest river basin - and the source of 15-16% of all the water that flows into the sea from the world’s rivers.
  • More than 30 million people live in the region today - most are in large urban centres, but almost all depend on the Amazon’s ecosystem for food, shelter and livelihoods.

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How you can help

Sponsor an acre Adopt a jaguar

Amazon links

Download

The Amazon's Vicious Cycles: Drought and Fire in the Greenhouse

Keeping the Amazon forests standing: a matter of values

WWF’s Living Amazon Initiative

Amazon Alive! A decade of discovery 1999 - 2009

Latest Amazon news

Photos from the Paraguay River basin

Pantanal: protecting the world’s largest wetland

The world’s largest wetland, the Pantanal in South America, is a paradise for wildlife. Its annual cycles of flooding and drought create a strikingly beautiful and rich ecosystem. It’s a haven for nearly 5,000 species of animals and plants, and attracts about a million tourists a year - joining the eight million people who live there. The region’s ‘ecosystems services’ - such as irrigation of agriculture and wildlife tourism - have been valued at US$112bn a year. But this paradise is at serious risk - and here's how we're planning to protect it.

Protesters march with a banner urging President Rousseff to veto the Forest Code changes.

Brazil’s Forest Code takes centre stage at World Social Forum

This week saw civil society groups from across the globe convene at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Since day one, a critical point of discussion has been the controversial changes to the host country’s long-standing Forest Code, which could see vast swathes of forest destroyed and enormous amounts of CO2 released into the atmosphere.

Brazil's destructive Forest Code vote delayed - but only till March

Thanks in part to campaigners across Brazil and the world, final voting on controversial and destructive changes to the country’s Forest Law has been postponed until March 2012. It's a great first success - but the battle’s not over, and we still need your support to spread the word, and help make sure damaging changes are stopped.

Update 25 Jan: The Brazilian Congress will be reconvening in early February and we're making sure they feel the heat as they step back into office. This week, the World Social Forum - civil society's response to the World Economic Forum - kicks off in Porto Alegre, Brazil. And WWF, together with a committee of other Brazilian organisations, will be using the opportunity to call on President Dilma Rousseff to veto the controversial changes. You can help us today by signing this email petition, already signed by more than 75,000 WWF supporters.


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