The Ecuadorian Amazon

In a country known for its elegant and flashy display of beautiful and wealth, there are groups of people, particular in the Amazon Rainforest, who still live detached from modernity and lifestyle of the contemporary world. Even though some of those groups live in voluntary isolation, they are united in their fight for land and environmental rights. One of these groups is the Kayapo, a group of around nine thousand indigenous people, who lives in the village of Gorotire along the Xingu River. Although the Kayapo have famously evolved from an isolated tribute to active voice against numerous developmental projects proposed by the Brazilian government, other groups such as rubber tappers in the Xapuri area have also made significant progress in securing political and cultural rights. While these communities and indigenous groups often share different cultures and customs, they are connected through a common struggle: defending their cultural and political identity amidst oppression and neglect from the Brazilian government.

As a result of deforestation and other causes, as few as 10,000 species go extinct every year, with a multitude lost in the rainforests across the world. The Amazon Rainforest, the largest rainforest in the world, houses roughly, “40,000 plant species, 427 mammals, 1,300 birds, 378 reptiles, and around 3,000 freshwater fish,” as well as more than 100,000 of invertebrate species (Amazon Wildlife). The rapid loss of the Amazon rainforest, precisely 17% in the last fifty years, critically cripples the biodiversity of the rainforest. To explain, every vehicle that destroys any sort of foliage is a loss to the animals that live in the forest. As known, every animal consumes a multitude of different plants or animals, and the more plants in the area,

When one thinks about the Amazon rainforest often our minds flip to monkeys, toucans, and lots of trees. We think of the peacefulness and serenity of untouched land and the balance that nature has to offer. What we don’t think of is primitive tribes, mass killings, deadly snakes, ferocious jaguars, and satanic activity. This is the Amazon that Michael Dawson and his family were accustomed to. This was Yanomamo.

The Interdependence of plants, animals, and humans is integral in the Amazon Rainforest ecosystem of the tropical rainforest biome. The key features of the Amazon Rainforest is the Amazon River. The Amazon Rainforest goes through Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and many other countries. Colombia has 10%, Brazil has 60%, and Peru has 13%. 80-90 degrees during the day and 50 degrees at night is the temperature of the Amazon Rainforest. There are dry and wet seasons. it gets 9 to 10 feet of rain a year. The terrain is in the Amazon Rainforest are rocky mountains, wetlands , plains, valleys, rivers, streams, and highlands. The dirt is poor with very few nutrients and it is very muddy. It is also dense with trees and rotting logs. The thin topsoils, made of decaying vegetable and animal parts, take up all the nutrients. In the Amazon Rainforest there 's the Congo River, the Rio Negro, and the Amazon River.

One of the biome which I found interesting was the Amazon rainforest. The Amazon Rainforest is region which is owned by more than 1 country because of its land mass. It is actually owned by 9 nations. This biome is situated in the amazon basin of South Africa. The Amazon Rainforest covers 5,500,000 km2 (2,123,562 sq mi) of total 7000000 km2 of the Amazon basin. This particular rainforest cover more than 50% of the world rainforest biome. So as to understand this particular rainforest biome better, I am going to talk about the Brazil part of the rainforest as it owns 60% of the rainforest. I found this particular

One can encounter every environmental extreme imaginable, from the intensely vertical terrain of the Andes, soaring up to altitudes of 5,000 meters (16,404 ft.) above sea level, to dry, low-lying lands along the western coast of South America. The climate zones are equally diverse, with some areas that are constantly hot and humid to others with subfreezing temperatures year round. Also within its boundaries are some of the driest places on earth- Chile’s Atacama Desert- to some of the most lush- the Amazonian rain forest to the east of the Andes- with rainy season lasting 11 months of the year. (Suarez and George 3)

Deforestation poses an alarming threat to Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, and it has been a serious concern for over 40 years. For thousands of years, the abundant, valuable resources in the Amazon were familiar only to the indigenous people of the region. In the 1500’s, before European colonization of Brazil, there were an estimated six to nine million individuals part of different cultures that made up a rich Amazonian society (“History”). Surrounded by the luxuriant rainforest and its natural resources, these indigenous tribes were able to thrive by utilizing the resources without destroying their habitat. After European emigration, the government of Brazil exploited the value of the Amazon’s resources in the twentieth century. In the 1970’s, the Brazilian government discovered the “untapped source of boundless potential” hiding in the Amazon and began using incentives to persuade settlers to develop its resources (Casey). Once economists realized the importance of the resources found within the rainforest, European pioneers set out to transform the Amazon into their home. By endorsing colonization, the government could not only boost the country’s economy, but also gain control over Brazil’s vast territory. The government supported migration to the rainforest and campaigned for the construction of infrastructure (“History”). In concurrence, the development of roads such as the Trans-Amazonian Highway, a 2,000 mile road built in 1972, granted people and machinery entrance to

Amazon Watch is a nonprofit organization contributing in the fight for human rights in the Amazon rain forest region in South America.The Amazon rain forest ever since modern-day industrialization and after the colonial conquest became one of the greatest resources for natural Goods in the world and quickly became a victim of our industrialized societies. Today exploitation of the Amazon rain forest for its natural resources has become evermore damaging to the local biosphere and to the cultures that live there. Amazon Watch contends that since rain forests are necessary for the sustainability of the planet , that protecting the world's largest rain forest and most bio-diverse should be a long one of our top priorities is to protect. Not only does the Amazon rain forest house animals and plants but around four hundred different indigenous groups live with in the Amazon rain forest and have been living there for hundreds of years without disturbances .Founded in 1996 Amazon Watch campaigns for human rights, working closely with indigenous people of the

The Huaorani people face many challenges throughout their endeavors in protecting the rainforest in Ecuador for themselves, or at least from those that want to terrorize their indigenous territories. The Huaorani people fight back to try and restore their land, and by doing so they have to fight by using environmental organizations to have them help succeed in their journey. Organizations, such as ONHAE, CONFENIAE, Via AUCA, and many others will help the Huaorani indigenous peoples fight back in order to save their rainforest in Ecuador.

In Peru, it is estimated that there are at least 15 uncontacted tribes living in remote areas of the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest. These include the Tagaeri, Taromenane, uncontacted

The Amazon Rainforest is the largest rainforest and river basin in the world. It covers around 2.1 million square miles of land, and exists in eight different countries and one French Territory. The Amazon rainforest is one of the most diverse places on the planet, accounting for ten percent of all known species, with more being discovered every year. But in this fragile ecosystem, people see opportunity to make money and a lifestyle, sometimes even illegally, trying to profit in the logging, mining, and agriculture industries. However, these industries help contribute to the deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest.

The Denver Academy has recently researched and defined some of the important facts surrounding the Amazon rainforest. In 2017, the Amazon rainforest covers 2.1 million square miles of South America. It is a vast ecosystem home to 10% of the world’s known species (The Denver Academy). They go on to say that the trees are so dense, when it rains, it takes 10 minutes for the water to break through the forest roof. The destruction of this habitat could lead to extinction of these species, and have devastating impacts all over the world from the loss of the lungs of the earth. While it is mainly concentrated in Brazil there are also large portions of the rainforest in Peru and Colombia, so many populations and economies are directly affected

Almost every inhabitant of the Colombian Amazon has an interesting story to tell about their home, which is one of the most amazing places in the world. The Amazon provides survival experiences, exotic food, extreme recreation, and a unique livelihood to all those who have lived there. However, the character and future of many has also been shaped by a context of poverty, harsh violence, restricted opportunities, geographical disparities and gender inequity. Almost everyone who has loved and lived under the magic of the Amazon has also lost loved ones. Many have died there, either by direct armed conflict or by the weakness of the State regarding law enforcement and insufficient ability of services to meet basic needs.

In order to understand how the Yanamamo people’s culture was affected by outside influences, we must first lean where they live and how they lived. The Yanamamo people live in South America, in that part of Brazil and Venezuela. They are the most isolated indigenous tribes in the Amazon, but they have separate villages. Every village is considered an economically and politically independent. Traditionally the Yanamamo are a semi-nomadic people who rely on agriculture and hunting to survive. Their marriages occur between the different villages, typically this involves the politics between the villages which means they are dominated by family connections.

Although relatively small in size, Ecuador is one of the most biologically diverse nations in the world. A drastic range of altitude and geographical diversity in such a small area has resulted in a high number of diverse climactic regions. Because of their very different climates and altitudes, Ecuador’s four main regions, the lowland Pacific Coast, the Andes Mountains, the Amazon rainforest, and the Galapagos Islands, are each home to a wide variety of plant and animal species. These many distinct ecosystems and the hundreds of endemic species residing within Ecuador’s borders have led scientists to classify it as a biodiversity “hotspot”.