Human Habitats in the Amazon
The Amazon Rainforest is a rich place for plants and animals to live. As we've learned, the Amazon is home to over 30% of the world's plant and animal species. But what kind of environment does it make for humans to live?
People have been living successfully in the Amazon for thousands of years. Scientists estimate that over 2,000 tribes with over seven million people were living in the Amazon before the arrival of Europeans over 500 years ago.
Fish make up a large part of many peoples diet in the Amazon Rainforest.
Today it is estimated that only 400 tribes of indigenous, or native, people still live in the Amazon Rainforest, with a population of around one million people. Some of these tribes are believed to live without the knowledge of the outside world, while other tribes have kept themselves from contacting the outside world. Why might some indigenous people choose to live traditionally in the rainforest rather than becoming part of our modern world?
The people who are still living isolated lifestyles in the rainforest survive using only what they can find, grow, hunt, or gather in the forest. People survive by fishing, gathering and cultivating crops, and by hunting. Medicines are also gathered from the rainforest. The secrets of plants are passed down from generation to generation. Children begin learning to identify plants and their uses at a young age. Some plants cure stomach aches, others are good for keeping cuts from being infected. Certain trees make the best canoes and paddles, while other palms are used to make a roof for a house.
Many people who live traditional lifestyles in the rainforest are subsistence farmers who only hunt and grow what they need to subsist, or survive. Some of these farmers practice slash and burn agriculture. Despite its harsh-sounding name, slash and burn agriculture can be one of the most ecologically sound methods of cultivation - when done correctly.
The summer, or dry season (August - February), is the time that most clearing of the rainforest takes place. Unfortunately, many of the fires started to clear the rainforest are not for subsistence agriculture. Most of the fires in the rainforest started today are not good for the rainforest. Modern farmers, loggers, and cattle ranchers are starting large fires to clear land for their uses. Nearly every day we can see smoke from fires off in the distance. We've even stayed on a beach that was smoldering.
We have encountered smoke from many forest fires.
Deforestation contributes nearly 20% of carbon dioxide emissions caused by people. Scientists agree that carbon dioxide emissions are the main cause of global warming. Carbon dioxide is emitted from cars, airplanes, buses, and many industries among other things. The earth's forests actually capture the carbon dioxide and convert the carbon dioxide into oxygen. All humans need oxygen to breathe.
The Amazon Rainforest is known as a "carbon sink," meaning that it is one of the earth's forests that absorbs slightly more carbon than it emits. This means that burning and deforesting the Amazon is twice as bad, because not only do the fires emit carbon dioxide, the more forest that is lost, the less forest is available to absorb the carbon dioxide.
When a large section of rainforest is cleared the sun bakes the ground and makes it very hard to the rainforest to grow back.
However, the more we learn about the Amazon Rainforest, the better protected it will be. By learning about the natural processes, humans can better understand why preserving the Amazon is so important. Laws and regulations to protect the forest are being established all the time in Brazil and other countries that are home to the Amazon Rainforest. Scientists keep uncovering new information about the ecosystem, which will help them better understand what needs to be done to preserve the rainforest. Can you think of any ways you can help the rainforest at home?