The 5 BIG QUESTIONS ABOUT AMAZON RAINFOREST As You Read, Think About: Why is what’s happening in the Amazon an important news story? What is the Amazon? CARIBBEAN SEA When you hear the word Amazon, ATLANTIC GUYANA OCEAN you might think of the online VENEZUELA 1 SURINAME shopping website. But we’re talking about COLOMBIA French Guiana* the world’s biggest tropical rainforest. It’s in (FRANCE) South America. The Amazon rainforest is so ECUADOR iver Amazon R huge, it would cover more than half the U.S. Amazon The Amazon is known for its biodiversity. Rainforest One-tenth of all known species in the PERU BRAZIL world live there. They range from pink river PACIFIC OCEAN dolphins and fierce jaguars to poison dart BOLIVIA frogs and colorful macaws. Experts estimate U.S. SOUTH that a new plant or animal is discovered in AMERICA the rainforest every two days. Area of N map “The Amazon is home to more species W E S of plants and animals than any other land ecosystem on the planet,” says scientist In which country is most of the Amazon rainforest located? Robin Chazdon. *French Guiana isn’t a country. It’s a territory of France. What’s going on there? How did the fires start? Thousands of fires are Most of the fires in the Amazon were caused by 2 raging across the Amazon. 3deforestation. People cut down trees and burn them. Scientists estimate that more They do this to clear land for farms or cattle ranches. than 90,000 fires have scorched By far, the country with the most fires is Brazil. the rainforest so far this year. This isn’t a new problem there. For years, its The fires have created so government has allowed deforestation in much thick smoke that some parts of the Amazon. But the number it can be seen from of fires this year has been alarming. space. Smoke has Experts say the big increase is mainly drifted hundreds of due to people burning land illegally. miles and blocked These blazes are deadly to the out the sun over rainforest’s animals and plant life. They some of Brazil’s also affect the more than 30 million biggest cities. people who live in the Amazon region. Cover: CLAUS MEYER/ MINDEN PICTURES/National Geographic Image Collection (fire); Eric Gevaert/Shutterstock.com (monkey); skynesher/Getty skynesher/Getty (monkey); Eric Gevaert/Shutterstock.com (fire); Image Collection Geographic MEYER/ MINDEN PICTURES/National CLAUS Cover: Jim McMahon/Mapman® (map); Images (background); DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty 2: CARL Page (Pigcasso); Joanne Lefson/pigcasso.org Images (soccer); (fire) Press/Redux Correia/Camera Marcelo (parrot); duangnapa_b/Shutterstock.com 2 SCHOLASTIC NEWS EDITION 5/6 ©2019 Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved. The two-toed sloth, one of the world’s slowest animals, lives in AMAZON RAINFOREST the Amazon. That sounds bad, Will the Amazon recover? but the Amazon is No one knows for sure. The 4really far from 5World Wildlife Fund estimates that where I live. Why should humans have destroyed nearly one-fifth of I care about it? the Amazon in the past 50 years. The rainforest Rainforests help keep could become dry grassland if deforestation GO Earth healthy. Trees and continues at this rate, scientists say. Millions of ONLINE! other plants release oxygen. species would be at risk. And Earth’s atmosphere would Take a virtual trip to the Oxygen is a key ingredient in have a lot more carbon dioxide. Amazon. the air we breathe. Trees and The U.S. and other countries have offered aid to fight the plants also pull a gas called fires. And people from around the world are calling on the Brazilian carbon dioxide from the air government to crack down on illegal tree clearing and to create and store it. Carbon dioxide stricter laws to prevent deforestation. is one of the gases that affect “The fires have helped people realize that we are all part of the the planet’s temperature. same planet,” says Chazdon. The Amazon rainforest is so enormous, it stores huge amounts of carbon dioxide. Before That gas is released when the Amazon’s trees are cut down and burned. Having too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes the planet’s average temperature to rise. This contributes to climate change. That may lead to more heat waves, severe storms, and droughts in After many parts of the world. WORDS TO KNOW biodiversity noun. the variety of plants and animals that live in a region deforestation noun. the act of cutting down or burning down all the trees in an area Page 3: kungverylucky/Shutterstock.com (sloth); garlaschelli franco/Shutterstock.com (before); JOAO LAET/AFP/Getty Images (after) LAET/AFP/Getty JOAO (before); garlaschelli franco/Shutterstock.com (sloth); 3: kungverylucky/Shutterstock.com Page scholastic.com/sn56 3.