Contents



Preface

"*If humans continue to cut down the Amazon, the forest may start to die off in the* 

The Amazon River is the largest in the world in terms of volume and second only to the Nile in length. The climate is very warm and humid resulting in the largest tropical rainforest, which represents more than half of the world's remaining rainforests [2]. It includes parts of eight South American countries: Bolivia, Brazil,

Amazon basin covers roughly 634 million hectares, but only 529 million hectares are classified as primary forest [3]. The basin is named after the river, known in Spanish and Portuguese as 'Rio Amazonas'. That name was derived from a tribe of mighty women warriors, 'Amazons', in ancient Greek mythology [4] because back then

Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela. The

The first humans migrated from Central America to the Amazon region some 13,000 years ago [6]. Francisco de Orellana was the first European to travel the length of the Amazon River [7] and found there a complex civilization in the 1540s. It is suggested that up to 10 million indigenous people lived in fortified settlements, creating ceremonial artworks and growing food in small fields. Unfortunately, that civilization was later devastated by the spread of diseases originating from Europe

The Amazon rainforest is an ecosystem with vertical layers differing in plants and wildlife. Trees form the forest canopy with the dense top layer shading the trees below. The next layer includes shade-tolerant shrubs that cover the lower herbaceous plants. All large mammals, many small mammals, and a few birds live at ground level, but most of the birds and all of the bats live among the upper layers. Various insects inhabit all layers, but most species inhabit the top layers. Many of the species and much of the ecology of this ecosystem remain unknown [8].

In this introduction, I attempt to answer several questions [cf. 3 and 9] about the

The Amazon rainforest is often referred to as the "lungs of the planet." It produces oxygen through photosynthesis in the daytime but absorbs a lot of oxygen at night via respiration. Therefore, the rainforest is not a real net producer of oxygen. It does, however, absorb carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas; hence why the word 'lungs' is often used. Through transpiration, the rainforest releases large amounts of moisture into the atmosphere. This helps stabilize the global climate, generating rainfall at local, regional, and trans-continental scales [3]. Ricardo Galvão, former head of Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE), rightly concluded: "If the Amazon is destroyed, it will be impossible to control global warming"[6].

several tribes in the region practiced headhunting for trophies [5].

*2030s, destabilising South America and the world.*"

such as measles, smallpox and typhus.

Are the Amazon rainforests Earth's lungs?

Amazon region.

David Attenborough in his book *A Life on Our Planet* [1].
