Page 19 - Weaver Magazine | Volume 17 - January 2023

Nature

Amazon : The World’s Largest Rainforest

By: Priyanka Basu

“The forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited Why Amazon is Largest ?
kindness and benevolence that makes no demands Largest in Size :
for its sustenance and extends generously the Although 58.4% of the Amazon basin is
products of its life activity ; it affords protection to contained within the borders of Brazil, but
all beings , offering shade even to the axe – man eight other countries including Peru, Bolivia,
who destroys it.” – Gautama Buddha. Colombia, Venezuela. Guyana, Suriname,
Amazon is the largest and most popular tropical French Guyana and Ecuador also share the
rainforest in the world, expands from a 200 mile Amazon basin. The basin encompasses
front along the Atlantic to a belt 1200 miles wide 7,000,000 sq.km. area, of which 5,500,000
where the lowlands meet the Andean foothills , sq.km. are covered by the Amazon forest.
provides shelter for 30 million people and Four nations have their first-level
numerous species of insects, plants , birds and administrative regions named as “ Amazonas
other forms of life. The Amazon rainforest region “,whereas France labelled its rainforest
is in the northern part of the South America , protected area as “Guiana Amazonian Park “.
stretches across the countries of Brazil , Suriname With 390 billion individual trees and 30
, French Guiana, Peru and Guiana. With its ability million people Amazon represents over half
to supply 20% of the earth’s oxygen, this “ lung of of the earth’s remaining rainforests and
the world“ is the source of livelihood for comprises the largest tropical rainforest of
thousands of indigenous groups and forest this planet.
dependent people. Page 18

W E A V E R M A G A Z I N E I V O L U M E 1 6