Future Oceans
Life in the Amazon: A Decade On
BY JEAN-MICHEL COUSTEAU AND JACLYN MANDOSKE
1982: historic Calypso expedition to the Amazon
The Madeira River at the town of Jaci-Paraná in 2006, now a hydroelectric and industrial waterway complex
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ince I first laid eyes on the Amazon back in the early 1980s, this magical place of unimaginable biodiversity has always held a special place in my heart. I first came to explore the Amazon with my father, Jacques Cousteau, during a two-year expedition on the Calypso. The experience gave me a firsthand look at how connected we are on this water planet. Twenty- five years after that first trip, I returned to the Amazon with my Ocean Futures Society team to learn more about the amazing biodiversity of this critical place, the people who live here, and the many struggles they face as outside interests continue coming in and transforming the Amazon River Basin. Now, another decade has passed, and I wonder what remains in the largest rainforest on Earth.
The Amazon basin is the size of the continental United States and its river carries 20 percent of the world’s freshwater into the ocean. It is home to more than half of all species on Earth – supporting more life within its complex jungles, river and flooded forests than any other habitat. Two-thirds of the Amazon rainforest is found in Brazil. Starting at its source in the Peruvian Andes, thousands of small tributaries bring water through its jungles across eight countries into the largest river system in the world, the Amazon River. Its rainforests play a vital role in the global water cycle; the massive expanses of trees in the Amazon create rainclouds that may fall as rain as far away as North America. The region is often romanticized and considered a remote wonderland, far off the beaten path. But today, tens of millions of people are flooding into the Amazon due to increasing development, industries and hydroelectric power plants; altering and changing its native landscapes with unintended and often devastating consequences.
Magazine
Fires like this are set in order to
make way for soy or cattle farms
Deforestation and Climate Change The Amazon rainforest is ten times larger than the next largest rainforest on Earth. Its influence is unparalleled. Ten years ago we wondered to what extent was the Amazon rainforest being cut down cleared for other uses? We learned that in 40 years, nearly 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest has been cleared to make use for cattle pastures, soy and palm agriculture, lumber, roads and dams. Since our return, sources estimate that 28 percent of Brazil’s rainforest is gone. There are many different factors at play across local and national levels, but today, the single largest reason for deforestation continues to be for the use of cattle pastures and beef exports from Brazil. Although the rates of deforestation have decreased since its peak in 2004, deforestation continues at alarming speed. In 2015, Brazil lost a rainforest that amounted to 2250 square miles (5831 square kilometers), an area half the size of Los Angeles. Estimates that the Amazon could lose another 20 percent of its forests in two decades are cause for rapid concern. Scientists fear that if even 40 percent of the Amazon is cleared, the rainforest may reach a critical tipping point – when there are no longer enough trees to create adequate rainfall and the rainforest becomes a scrubland or even a desert. This process is known as desertification, and it has happened to other places of the world. By deforesting the largest rainforest
Photos: Carrie Vonderhaar, Ocean Futures Society, Tim Trabon
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