Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon rainforest is the world’s large tropical rainforest, covering roughly 2.7 million square miles. It comprises more than half of the world’s remaining rainforests. It is crisscrossed by thousands of rivers, including the huge Amazon River, and is famed for its biodiversity. It is comparable in size to the United States and extends into nine South American countries. Most of it is in Brazil. Colombia contains only a small fraction of the Amazon rainforest – roughly 6% of it – but the rainforest there makes up 40% of the country.

Hotter and drier conditions driven by climate change are leading to an increasing number of wildfires in North America and around the world. These fires are growing larger and burning longer, spreading into biodiversity-rich regions once considered too wet and humid to sustain them.