Causes
Cutting trees and warming temperatures dry out the Basin and make fires more common.
What is the interaction between deforestation and climate change?
Less rainfall lowers the water levels of this massive river system.
What is the Amazon River?
Planting new trees to help damaged forests recover.
What is reforestation?
This is the largest river in the world by volume.
What is the Amazon River?
This pink freshwater dolphin lives only in the Amazon Basin.
What is the boto?
This major industry clears huge areas of forest to make space for grazing.
What is cattle ranching?
Longer, drier seasons in the Basin increase the risk of these destructive events.
What are forest fires?
Indigenous communities prevent huge wildfires by using these smaller intentional burns.
What are controlled burns?
The Amazon River Basin spreads across this number of countries.
What is eight?
This spotted big cat is the Amazon’s top predator.
What is the jaguar?
This crop, used in Nutella, peanut butter, and soaps, drives forest loss when trees are cleared to plant it.
What is palm oil?
When rainfall drops, biodiversity decreases, especially for these river species like piranhas and dolphins.
What are aquatic animals?
Governments protect parts of the Basin using these zones where logging is not allowed.
What are protected areas?
This large city in the Basin sits deep in the rainforest.
What is Manaus?
This sharp-toothed fish is known for its powerful bite.
What is the piranha?
When the forest dies, flammable bushes take over, making fires more frequent and stopping trees from regrowing.
What is reaching an ecological tipping point?
Without tree roots, soil washes into rivers and clouds the water.
What is sedimentation?
Countries can earn money for keeping trees standing through these climate programs.
What are carbon credits?
The Amazon carries about this percentage of the world’s freshwater.
What is 20%?
One of the world’s biggest snakes lives in the Basin's waters and swamps.
What is the green anaconda?
Logging, farming, and lost trees weaken this important moisture process that normally keeps the Basin wet.
What is evapotranspiration?
How many Indigenous people are currently living in the Amazon rainforest?
What is 2.2 million?
How are Indigenous land-management and conservation practices helping maintain forest resilience?
What is using controlled burns?
During the rainy season, the Amazon River can expand up to this wide.
What is 30–40 miles?
This giant fish can grow over 10 feet and breathe air.
What is the arapaima (pirarucu)?