World Wildlife Fund

Logging opens up the forest to slash and burn cultivators who cut remaining forest to grow crops.
© WWF-Canon / Mark EDWARDS

Market forces, population pressure and infrastructure advances are continuing to pry open the Amazon rainforest. As pressures on the region grow in intensity, it is becoming increasingly clear that the price to be paid is not only loss of biodiversity and habitat – but also a decreasing quality of life for people.

Forests
While data from the government of Brazil shows that deforestation rates for the Brazilian Amazon from August 2006 to July 2007 had fallen for the third consecutive year, deforestation still proceeded at an alarming speed. During the government's survey period more than 2.7 million acres disappeared - equaling about four football fields of rainforest per minute. There are also data that shows deforestation rates have increased since the end of that reporting period. A recent WWF report shows that 55 percent of the Amazon's forests could be gone by 2030, releasing billion of tons of carbon into the atmosphere, with major contributions to global warming.

Agriculture
Commercial agriculture is a major threat to the region's biodiversity, as soybean farming and cattle ranching are among the most acute causes of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.

Unsustainable subsistence farming is also a threat. At one time, many migrants were encouraged to settle in the Amazon region. But instead of adapting their farming methods, they simply continued to use the techniques they learned back home. Unfortunately these techniques were suited to other soils and climates and inadequate for the Amazon region. Because land productivity in the Amazon usually falls sharply after three years, migrants are then forced to move - only continuing the cycle of destruction.

Infrastructure development and international finance
Major road projects provide conduits for poorly planned development and increased deforestation in newly opened areas of the Amazon. Other forms of destruction that have brought serious consequences to the region include floods caused by the construction of river dams for hydro-electrical power as well as mining that contributes to soil erosion and water contamination with toxic chemicals, such as mercury. Oil and gas exploration and the construction of pipelines also pose potentially serious threats to the region.

Climate Change
Climate change and deforestation could convert the majority of the Amazon rainforest into savanna, with massive impacts on the world’s biodiversity and climate. Climate-modelling studies are projecting a warmer and drier environment for the region, which will likely lead to a substantial decrease in precipitation over much of the Amazon. Such changes would result in significant shifts in ecosystem types – from tropical forest to dry savanna – and loss of species in many parts of the Amazon.

Wildlife trade
The remote borders between Amazon countries are ideal places for traffickers to export wild animals. Birds in the Amazon are prime targets, and some are sold live while others are killed to supply feathers, skins and other body parts. Reptiles are highly valued for their skins and live reptiles are also popular pets. In the past ten years, the world demand for reptiles by pet shops, educational and scientific institutions as well as for food, has dramatically increased. Of all mammal species from the Americas that are traded, 95 percent are found in Brazil – one of the major suppliers of primates along with the Guianas and Peru.

• Amazon’s champion Awarded WWF’s Duke of Edinburgh Medal

  The 2008 WWF Duke of Edinburgh Conservation medal has been awarded to former Brazilian Environment Minister Her Excellency Senator Marina Silva.

  October 27, 2008

• Brazil Gets Tough to Stop Amazon Deforestation

   

  October 01, 2008

• Brazil's Environment Minister Commits to New Protected Areas in the Amazon

  Bonn, Germany, May 30, 2008 – Brazil's Environment Minister, Carlos Minc, has confirmed the imminent creation of four new protected areas, three of them in the Brazilian Amazon, totaling 2.3 million hectares. The announcement of the creation of these areas will be made on June 5th, World Environment Day. Minc announced this commitment yesterday at the Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn, Germany, where, together with Environmental Ministers of 60 countries, he also signed onto a WWF campaign of zero net deforestation by 2020.

  May 30, 2008

• Brazil's Environment Minister Commits to New Protected Areas in the Amazon

  Bonn, Germany, May 30, 2008 – Brazil's Environment Minister, Carlos Minc, has confirmed the imminent creation of four new protected areas, three of them in the Brazilian Amazon, totaling 2.3 million hectares. The announcement of the creation of these areas will be made on June 5th, World Environment Day. Minc announced this commitment yesterday at the Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn, Germany, where, together with Environmental Ministers of 60 countries, he also signed onto a WWF campaign of zero net deforestation by 2020.

  May 30, 2008

• Creation of New Protected Areas in the Amazon; Good News, But Not Enough to Save It, Says WWF.

  The announcement by Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the creation of approximately 7,828,938.5 acres of new federal protected areas in the Amazon: the Jarí National Park, Iquiri National Forest, Middle Purus Extractive Reserve, and the expansion of the Balata-Tufari National Forest is a positive step but only one of many which will be needed to save the Amazon, according to WWF.

  May 12, 2008

• The Bolivian River Dolphin: Conservation Ambassador of the Amazon

  The government of Bolivia recently declared the Bolivian river dolphin as a Natural Heritage. This designation highlights the value placed on the conservation of this species and the freshwater ecosystems in the Beni province of northeastern Bolivia where it lives. The government committed to continuing its protection of this emblematic cetacean and pledged to strengthen measures to conserve the dolphin and its habitats.

  April 25, 2008

• Amazon Deforestation Rates Decreasing, Rainforests Still Threatened

  New data from the government of Brazil shows that deforestation rates for the Brazilian Amazon from August 2006 to July 2007 have fallen for the third consecutive year - and are the lowest registered for the region since 1991.

  December 11, 2007

• Climate Change Speeds Up Amazon’s Destruction, Says WWF

  Bali, Indonesia – A vicious feedback loop of climate change and deforestation could wipe out or severely damage nearly 60 percent of the Amazon forest by 2030, says a new report from WWF. 

  December 05, 2007

• Unprecedented Pact to Save Amazonian Forests

  Brasilia, Brazil - Today nine Brazilian conservation organizations, including WWF-Brazil, launched an initiative to protect the Amazon's rainforests. This historic pact establishes a system of economic incentives for conservation with a goal of eliminating deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon by 2015 - an ambitious 7 year target.

  October 03, 2007

• WWF Awarded Grant to Study Negative Impacts of Damming Amazon Tributary

  Washington, D.C. - The Blue Moon Fund recently awarded WWF a grant to ensure that construction of the Madeira dams in the Amazon River basin does not permanently harm the region's biodiversity, economic potential and local communities. Established in 2002, the Blue Moon Fund supports nonprofit organizations working to build a sustainable balance between humans and nature.

  June 01, 2007

• WWF Colombia's Partner Wins Top Conservation Prize

  Cali, Colombia - In recognition of his groundbreaking work to conserve South America's pink river dolphins, Dr. Fernando Trujillo was awarded both the Whitley Award sponsored by HSBC Holdings and the Whitley Gold Award, the Whitley Fund for Nature's most prestigious honor. Dr. Trujillo is the founder and scientific director of the Fundación Omacha - a partner of WWF-Colombia in the Amazon and Orinoco Basins. With support from WWF and its local partners, Dr. Trujillo is working with a team of young South American scientists to survey river dolphin populations along the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers and their tributaries in Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. Central to his work is a strong campaign to stop the killing of dolphins and other endangered species for use in the catfish industry.

  May 10, 2007

• WWF Pledges Amazon Commitment at Clinton Global Initiative

  Washington - At the Clinton Global Initiative in New York today, World Wildlife Fund affirmed its commitment to a program which conserves key portions of the Amazon, preventing hundreds of millions of tons of carbon from being released into the atmosphere. The Amazon Region Protected Areas Program - known as ARPA - is the largest tropical forest conservation effort in history. It aims to safeguard the extraordinary biological diversity of the Amazon, reduce its extremely high rates of deforestation, and conserve its environmental and ecological services that provide benefits to millions of people.

  September 21, 2006

• Rate of deforestation in Amazon slowing

  Brazilia, Brazil - Deforestation rates in the Amazon are declining, but ranching, logging and agriculture activities are still responsible for continued degradation of the world's largest rainforest, according to data released by the Brazilian government.

  September 06, 2006

• Over 6 million acres of new protected areas established in the Amazon

  On June 6, 2006 the Brazilian government announced the creation of new protected areas in the Amazon region totaling approximately 6.2 million acres. The Amazon is the world's largest river basin and the source of one-fifth of the earth's fresh water. It has the world's highest diversity of birds and freshwater fish, as well as the planet's largest rainforest which is home to more than one third of all species. However, the ecosystem is severely threatened by illegal logging, slash-and-burn agriculture and other human activities, and forests are being destroyed at an alarming rate.

  June 12, 2006

• World Wildlife Fund Receives $20M Gift from Roger and Vicki Sant to Help Safeguard the Amazon

  WASHINGTON D.C. philanthropists Roger and Vicki Sant have named World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as beneficiary of a $20 million charitable remainder trust, the largest single gift the organization has ever received from an individual supporter. This gift was announced Tuesday, May 23 at a World Wildlife Fund dinner at the Residence of the Brazilian Embassy in Washington, D.C.

  May 30, 2006

• School Children Raise Money and Awareness of Amazon

  Fifteen students representing grades three through six at Spring Hill Elementary School in McLean, Virginia, on Dec. 13 joined Amazon experts from World Wildlife Fund, the World Bank, and the Brazilian government to discuss the theme of conservation and the Amazon.

  December 27, 2005

• Twelve New Protected Areas Named In World's Third Largest Rainforest

  The Papua New Guinea government today announced it will gazette twelve protected areas requested by local communities covering some of the most biologically diverse forests, wetlands and reefs on the planet at an event held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

  October 27, 2005

• World Wildlife Fund Contributes $3.3 Million to Support Brazilian Protected Areas in the Amazon

  WASHINGTON - World Wildlife Fund today contributed U.S. $3.3 million dollars to secure long-term financial sustainability for the vast system of parks and sustainable use areas now being established in the Amazon by Brazil. Today's contribution by WWF will be matched by the Global Environment Facility, resulting in a total contribution of $6.6 million dollars. World Wildlife Fund also announced its intent to raise an additional $6.7 million dollars by June 2007 to further protect these vital areas in perpetuity.

  May 20, 2005

• Major New Protected Areas Established in Peruvian Amazon Reserves will Protect Wildlife While Safeguarding Indigenous Rights

  Washington, DC - The Peruvian Government today celebrates the creation of one of the largest combined indigenous reserves and protected areas in the world. Also, the government announces that a new commission will design a law to protect indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation in Peruvian Amazon territorial reserves.

  March 31, 2005

• WWF Hails 'Giant Step' Forward in Amazon Conservation

  BRASILIA-One of the world's most ambitious conservation efforts has taken a major step forward with the declaration of two new major protected areas, comprising 9.4 million acres of rain forest, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon.

  February 18, 2005