Amazon River and Rain Forest

The Amazon is a region of superlatives. It spans the borders of eight countries and one overseas territory, is the world's largest river basin and the source of one-fifth of all free-flowing fresh water on Earth. Its rain forests are the planet's largest and most luxuriant, and home to - amazingly - one in ten known species on Earth.

In the last decades, scientific research has established a clear link between the health of the Amazon and the integrity of the global environment, but still only a fraction of its biological richness has been revealed. Today, rapid deforestation threatens the Amazon. At current rates, 55 percent of its rain forests could be gone by 2030—a looming disaster not only for the region’s plants and animals, but for the world.

The immensity of the Amazon's challenge, like the scale of its landscape, requires a long-term conservation vision backed by strong scientific expertise. WWF has been at the forefront in protecting the Amazon for more than 40 years. Our approach is succeeding because we engage local communities and partner with governments to identify mutual solutions that can bridge the needs of economic development and conservation.