The Amazon Rainforest Internet Assignment

Part I (Overview): Use www.worldwildlife.org/places/amazon and follow the directions

carefully to complete this assignment.
1. Review the photograph. Choose one descriptive word (adjective) that comes to mind and
explain how it relates to the image. A word that comes to mind is large. It relates to the image
because the Amazon Rainforest is very large and covers most of Brazil in the northwest. Large
also relates to the image because the Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world.
2. Click on Overview and review the information, including the visuals. List the 8 nations
that the Amazon rainforest is located in.
- Brazil
- Columbia
- Bolivia
- Venezuela
- Peru
- Guyana
- Ecuador
- Suriname
3. Click on Forest Habitat and review the information there, including the visuals. A forest
can vary based on several factors. What are these four factors?
- Provide habitat for many plants and animals
- Inspire wonder & places for recreation
- Protect watersheds
- Supply oxygen to survive
- Provide timber for products
4. What makes rainforests special?
Home to 80% of the worlds terrestrial biodiversity
5. Worldwide, how quickly is deforestation occurring? How quickly is it occurring in the
Amazon? Use statistics from the reading to explain your answer.
1. Worldwide 46-58 million square miles of forest are lost each
year (48 football fields every minute)
2. Amazon Lost 17% of its forest cover in the last half century due
to human activity
6. Scroll down to the Why They Matter section. Scroll through the three images and review the
captions. List and explain why rainforests matter.
1. People depend on them for hunting, gathering and medicine. Also
they depend on them for forest products such as rubber and rattan, and smallscale agriculture
2. Rainforest matter because the trees and other plants soak up
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it away as they grow.
3. The rainforest matter because of the unique diversity they have.
Eighty percent of the worlds known plant and animal species can be found in
forests.
7. Return to the main page (www.worldwildlife.org/places/amazon) and scroll down to the
Species section. Choose three animals found in the Amazon and describe them in the chart.
Animal

Description

Red Panda

1. Slightly larger than a domestic cat with a bearlike body and thick russet fur
2. The pandas are very skillful and are acrobatic
animals that mainly stay in trees
3. Red Pandas use their long, bushy tails for
balance and to cover themselves in winter, most likely
for warmth

Chimpanzee

1. Live to be over the age of 50

2. Spend most of their days in the treetops
3. When the chimpanzee does come down from the
trees they usually travel on all fours, even though they
can walk on their legs like a human for as far as a mile.

Amur Leopard

1. Similar to other leopards, the Amur leopard can

run at speeds of up to 37 miles per hour
2. The Amur Leopard has been reported to leap
more than 19 feet horizontally and up to 10 feet vertically
3. Amur Leopards can live for 10-15 years and up
to 20 years in captivity

Part II (Native Peoples): Use www.survivalinternational.org/about/amazontribes to learn

about the native peoples of the Amazon rainforest.
8. How many people live in the Amazon rainforest, and how are they organized? The Amazon
Rainforest is the ancestral home of 1 million Indians. The people are divided into about 400
tribes, each with its own language, culture and territory.
9. To what extent have they had contact with outsiders? Explain your response. Many of the
people in the Amazon have had contact with outsiders for almost 500 years. Others people, or
uncontacted tribes, have had no contact at all with outsiders.
10. Create a t-chart that compares and contrasts your daily life with that of the people of the
Amazon. Include at least four points of comparison.
Me

Amazon People

Contact with people on a daily basis and talk to

them all the time

No contact with outsiders at all and do not talk to

anyone that is not in my tribe

Everyone has the same language

Each tribe has a different language in the Amazon

Territory is not an issue with me and where I live

Each tribe has their own territory

Eat food from a grocery store that I purchased

Eat the food they hunt and fish, along with grow
vegetables

11. Why are land rights so important to the Amazon tribes? Read the text and watch the video
clip in the Land = Life section to answer this question. Land rights are so important because

the land is their home and their ancestors where there. The Amazon tribes know their area
better than anyone and know how to survive in the land they have. Having the land makes them
feel comfortable and like they are one with nature, since they know how to hunt and get food
where they have their own land.
12. Do you think most Americans agree with the viewpoint expressed by the woman in the
video clip? Explain. I think most Americans might agree with the viewpoint expressed by the
woman in the video clip. Even though some might agree, a majority of Americans might not
agree, since the future today has to do with a lot with technology. The indians do not use
technology like we do, and many americans see them as living in the past, and wont move on
to the way we live today as americans.
Part III (Current Challenges): Use www.theguardian.com/environment/amazon-rainforest
to research some of the current challenges facing the Amazon rainforest. Please be mature in
handling photographs of native people, as their dress is quite different from ours!
13. Choose articles that interest you about each of the topics in the chart. Read them and
complete the chart.
Challenge

Impact (2 sentences)

Possible Solutions (2
sentences)

Deforestation

Deforestation and land use change

drives about 80% of Indonesias
greenhouse gas emissions. According
to some estimates, this makes
deforestation the worlds fifth biggest
emitter.

A possible solution is to reduce the

emissions by 26% or more by the
year 2020. By clearing the
emissions for intensive agriculture,
this had made a mockery of federal
government attempts to limit
emissions.

Mining/Drilling

Over the last few year the coal mining

sector has experienced a challenging
environment. The challenging
environment means increased risks
and shifting dynamics have reshaped
its landscape.

The Bank of America will continue to

reduce our credit exposure to
companies that do coal extraction.
There are three major French banks
that have declared that they would
not fund the Galilee basin projects.

Crime

An impact is that the aid kept back

calls for transparent and peaceful
elections as unrest over President
Pierre Nkurunzizas bid for third term.
The unrest over his bid for third term
forces tens of thousands to flee.

Belgium said it would also pull out of

a 5m funded deal with the
Netherlands for police cooperation.
There are police in Burund that have
been accused of using violence on
the protestors something they
deny.

14. Go to edition.cnn.com/2013/07/25/sport/football/football-brazil-world-cupmanaus/index.html and review the article there. What challenges did the rainforest pose for
Brazil in its efforts to prepare for the 2014 World Cup? The challenges the rainforest posed for
Brazil in its efforts to prepare for the 2014 World Cup included traffic jams clogging the streets,
fishing boats dot the rivers and ports swarm with activity during the day and overnight. Another
challenge the rainforest has posed is they they people in the city of Manaus, where the 2014

World Cup was held, has just a few months remaining until the intense rainy season hits the city
in December.
15. How did the regions emphasis on environmental protection influence the stadium project?
The regions emphasis on environmental protection influenced the stadium project because
close to the center of Manaus, Brazil, where the stadium is located, is a natural phenomenon
called "the meeting of the waters." At the meeting of the waters the Rio Negro and Amazon
rivers join, but don't mix together,. Here you can see light and dark waters, flowing side by side
for almost 10 kilometers, all due to to different water temperatures, speed of water, and acid
levels. At some point the two rivers become one, and the Amazon continues through northern
Brazil, making it just one of the countless features that makes the city of Manaus so unique.
The environmental protection influences the stadium because of the way they people in the city
of Manaus look at their city and the combination of the Rio Negro and Amazon River.