The Amazon River is the world’s largest river by volume and is one of the world’s most precious resources. It contains an enormous ecosystem covering 2,900,000 square miles, and 70% of the Amazon is located in Brazil. It is a very valuable resource because of its incalculable environmental significance. It is rich with mineral and energy resources, and also has enormous fresh water resources. The Amazon River alone exceeds the combined flow of the next eight largest rivers in the world.

This is invaluable because it provides almost 14,000 miles of navigable waterways and a home for thousands of exotic plants and animals. The Amazon has an incredible diversity of life, which gives the river its endless collage of sound and color. Scientists have identified 300 species of mammals, including jaguars, pumas, monkeys, capybaras, and dolphins. Reptiles also play an important role in the balance of the Amazonian ecosystem. Anacondas, caimans, large turtles, lizards, and snakes occupy the areas between the bottoms of rivers and the forest canopy. There are 3,000 varieties of fish in the Amazon, including the pirarucu, which is believed to be the largest fresh water fish in the world, and the meat-eating piranha, which can become aggressive and attack human swimmers when they are hungry.

There are also 1,800 species of birds, 505 types of trees, and a vast abundance of myriad insects. Roughly 11 percent of Brazil’s human population also resides in this region. Development projects and domestic migration during the 1970s and 1980s led to deforestation of 160,000 square miles or 8.5 percent of the region. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, cleared the way for further international cooperation for the protection of this precious forest resource. For more information about the Amazon, please refer to the following website: http://www.junglephotos.com/.

Amazon River