HOW CAN YOU SAVE THE AMAZON?

The Amazon Rainforest is disappearing at a rapid rate. Every day plants, animals and insect species are lost. Even though much damage has already been done there is still time to take action. The Amazon Rainforest can be saved with community involvement and dedication. To contribute to saving the Amazon Rainforest, use these steps for guidance.

• Change Buying Habits

Step 1:
Use recycled products. Buy recycled paper to prevent more of the Amazon's trees from being cut down. Plastic and glass can be recycled to prevent the use of additional land being for landfills.

Step 2:
Research the companies and conduct business with companies that have gone green. This means the company recycles, has plans in place to support conservation and reduce their damage to the environment.

Step 3:
Choose captive breed animals. Buy captive bred pets instead of animals caught in the wild. Refuse to buy products made from wildlife animal skin.

• Become an Activist

Step 1:
Learn more about the Amazon Rainforest and how it impacts Earth. Find out the causes of deforestation, pollution and other factors that have reduced the size of the Rainforest.

Step 2:
Support the Indigenous people along with programs that teach them how to live off the land without causing damage.

Step 3:
Get involved in politics. Watch TV and read newspapers to gain education on environmental issues. Write state and federal legislature to express personal views and vote for candidates with similar philosophy.

Step 4:
Join conservation organizations like Greenpeace that work to preserve the environment. Volunteer leisure time to help conservation organizations. Some organizations offer the chance to travel to the Amazon Rainforest and participate in on-site conservation strategies.

Step 5:
Donate money to various organizations that allow the purchase of land in the Amazon Rainforest to protect it. Other programs work to rebuild trees and reduce pollution.

Step 6:
Share knowledge with others about the plight of the Amazon Rainforest. Talk to family and friends. Let them know how their actions impact the environment. Teach them simple conservation techniques that can be incorporated into their daily lives.

DID YOU KNOW?

• The Amazon covers 7 million square kilometers (1.7 billion acres), of which five and a half million square kilometers (1.4 billion acres) are covered by the rainforest.

• The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, and it comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world.

• One in ten known species in the world live in the Amazon Rainforest. This constitutes the largest collection of living plants and animal species in the world.

• The region is home to about 2.5 million insect species, tens of thousands of plants, and some 2,000 birds and mammals. To date, at least 40,000 plant species, 3,000 fish, 1,294 birds, 427 mammals, 428 amphibians, and 378 reptiles have been scientifically classified in the region. One in five of all the birds in the world live in the rainforests of the Amazon. Scientists have described between 96,660 and 128,843 invertebrate species in Brazil alone.

• The diversity of plant species is the highest on Earth with some experts estimating that one square kilometer may contain over 75,000 types of trees and 150,000 species of higher plants. One square kilometer of Amazon rainforest can contain about 90,790 tonnes of living plants.

• To date, an estimated 438,000 species of plants of economic and social interest have been registered in the region with many more remaining to be discovered or catalogued.

• Future climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions shows that the Amazon rainforest could become unsustainable under conditions of severely reduced rainfall and increased temperatures, leading to an almost complete loss of rainforest cover in the basin by 2100.

• From 2002 to 2006, the conserved land in the Amazon Rainforest has almost tripled and deforestation rates have dropped up to 60%. About 1,000,000 square kilometres (250,000,000 acres) have been put onto some sort of conservation, which adds up to a current amount of 1,730,000 square kilometres (430,000,000 acres).

• The effects of deforestation on regional climate, are pushing the rainforest towards a "tipping point" where it would irreversibly start to die. It concludes that the forest is on the brink of being turned into savanna or desert, with catastrophic consequences for the world's climate.

• The burning and decomposition of trees cut down for development makes Brazil’s chunk of the Amazon responsible for about half of the world’s annual greenhouse-gas emissions from deforestation, says Meg Symington, Amazon director for the World Wildlife Fund in the United States.