Mission to the Amazon I am packing for another adventure As a conservation ecologist I study how to preserve the relationship between living things and their environment I have been asked by the Amazon Research Association to observe the effects of deforestation in the Amazon rain forest Deforestation means cutting down forests or a group of trees I will start my journey in Peru and end where the mighty Amazon River meets the Atlantic Ocean in Brazil As I make my way down the longest river in the world I will note any changes to different types of habitats I have been asked to report on how deforestation is affecting plants and animals the health of the habitat nesting sites indigenous people climate change The Association also wants me to report on any new projects that are having a positive effect on preserving this ecosystem 4
I want to confirm some facts about the Amazon rain forest before I leave It is the largest tropical rain forest in the world at over 1.4 billion acres 5.5 million square kilometers Over half of it is in Brazil It also crosses the borders of eight other countries in South America These countries include Peru Ecuador and Colombia There is a link between the health of the Amazon rain forest and the health of the planet Earth is becoming warmer because too much of the gas carbon dioxide is building up in the planet’s atmosphere This is called global warming Humans and animals breathe out carbon dioxide Plants take in this gas A large rain forest can take in a lot of carbon dioxide to prevent the planet from warming up It also helps keep the average weather conditions around the world from changing quickly The rain forest is also home to about half of the animal and plant species on Earth I am looking forward to seeing animals such as parrots and poison frogs in the rain forest 5
Field Journal Day 1 Bus to Nauta I arrived in Iquitos Peru The bus ride from the airport took about two hours to the town of Nauta on the Amazon River I noticed dirt roads leading off into the rain forest as we bumped along the gravel highway They look unremarkable but some of these roads are actually the starting point of the forest’s destruction Illegal loggers cut roads into protected forests where cutting down trees is against the law They are looking for valuable hardwood trees to sell such as mahogany and ipe also called Brazilian walnut Trucks loaded with logs passed us on the highway heading toward the Amazon River The logs will be floated downriver to sawmills I wonder how many of these trucks contain stolen logs 6
Once logging roads are cut into the rain forest it is easier for others to travel there too People are now able to make their way deeper and deeper into parts of the forest that used to be impossible to reach Farmers or ranchers move into the forest They need to clear the land to grow crops such as soybeans or raise livestock I saw several places where ranchers had slashed and burned the remaining trees and shrubs This opens up space for their cattle to graze The Amazon rain forest is called the Lungs of the Earth The trees and other plants produce 20 percent of our planet’s oxygen through the process of photosynthesis I could see roads winding away into the rain forest from the bus Causes of deforestation in the Amazon rain forest Commercial agriculture 3 Logging 4 Fires mining roads and dams 3 Farming 30 Cattle ranches 60 Cattle ranching is the main cause of deforestation in the Amazon 7
