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The Amazon rainforest is the world's largest rainforest and covers more than two million miles of land. It stretches across nine South American countries: Brazil, Columbia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.

The lush region provides important benefits to communities living near and far. Nearly 500 indigenous communities call the Amazon rainforest home. It's a highly biodiverse ecosystem, home to untold species of plants and animals. The rainforest can create its own weather and influence climates around the world. Unfortunately, the fragile ecosystem faces the constant threat of deforestation and has seen devastating wildland fires this year.

Here's more on why the region is important:

An Abundance of Animals

From pond-hopping poison frogs to spotted jaguars slinking around in the dead of night, the Amazon houses some of the world's most charismatic plants and animals. It's one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world, home to 10 percent of the world's species, according to the World Wildlife Fund. There are more than 2.5 million species of insect that scuttle through the leaf litter. It contains roughly 1,300 bird species, 3,000 species of fish and approximately 430 species of mammals, according to National Geographic.

These animals play an important role in keeping the rainforest healthy. For instance, important nutrients from the carcasses, feces, and food scraps deposited by mammals leech into the forest floor. This nutrient influx helps soil microbes better store carbon instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.

A Wide Variety Of Plant Life

More than 40,000 plant species have been found in the Amazon rainforest. Many of them have important medicinal uses or are found in the foods we eat. Chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon, pepper, and coffee are grown in the rainforest. Rubber trees produce a sticky, white latex sap that holds our planet together and provides a source of income for indigenous communities living in the rainforest.

The Amazon's plants play an active role in regulating the ecosystem. As plants in the Amazon photosynthesize, they create their own weather. Through a process called transpiration, plants release water vapor from pores along the underside of their leaves. This moisture influx sustains life by seeding thick bands of clouds that keep water locked in the lush forest and flowing into river that supply communities downstream.

This phenomenon doesn't just impact weather in the Amazon. As the rain falls over the forest, warm air rises high into the atmosphere, pulling even more moisture in from the ocean thousands of miles away.

The Amazon River's Riches

The Amazon River is the second longest river in the world, next to the Nile. Its winding waterways cover roughly nearly 4,000 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The Amazon has the highest rate of rainfall in the world, according to National Geographic. More than 3,700 cubic miles of rainwater fall from the sky each year.

Biodiversity along the Amazon River and its surrounding wetlands is incredibly rich. The winding river is home to numerous species including red bellied piranha, pancake stingrays, bull sharks, black caiman crocodiles, and the endangered pink river dolphin. A recent study suggested that wetlands in the Amazon hold over 53 percent of the more than 6,727 tree species counted in the Amazon.

The Carbon and Oxygen Cycle

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The Amazon rainforest plays an important part in regulating the world's oxygen and carbon cycles. It produces roughly six percent of the world's oxygen and has long been thought to act as a carbon sink, meaning it readily absorbs large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

But when trees are logged and the forest is burned, that carbon is released into the atmosphere at alarming rates. Recent research has suggested that these forests might actually be emitting more carbon dioxide than they're absorbing. Luckily, if we're able to conserve large parts of the fragile ecosystem, scientists believe we may be able to restore its status as a carbon sink.

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4 Reasons Why We Desperately Need the Amazon Rainforest

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The Amazon rainforest is the world's largest rainforest and covers more than two million miles of land. It stretches across nine South American countries: Brazil, Columbia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. The lush region provides important benefits to communities living near and far.

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Amazon Deforestation and Fire Update: April 2021 - Woodwell Climate

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Building on the deforestation and fire data released regularly by Brazilian government scientists, we present an analysis of the carbon footprint of this year's deforestation as well as where deforestation is happening and an analysis of the current climate conditions-key information for identifying fire risk hotspots and shaping solutions.

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Preserving the Amazon rainforest is of global importance in the fight against climate change, but it is under threat from forest fires, mostly started to clear land for agriculture.

Early numbers from this year's fire season show an increase, leading to concern from scientists.

President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil recently said that claims the Amazon "is going up in flames" were not true, despite statistics published by his own government showing the spread of fires.

So what does the data show about what's happening this year?

Brazil is a huge country with many different environments, including grassland, wetland and rainforest.

Some 60% of the Amazon rainforest is in Brazil, and it plays a vital role in absorbing harmful CO2 that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere. So there's particular concern about the damage that fires might do here.

The total number of fires in Brazil's Amazon until July this year is high - but slightly lower than the same period last year.

But there is concern about a surge in blazes last month, earlier than would normally be expected.

"If we consider the average number of fires in July over the period from 2010-2019, then the number of fires in July 2020 represented an increase of 55.6% of the average," says Prof Marcia Castro, a Brazilian scientist based at Harvard University.

"An increase also happened in June (19.6% compared to June last year, and 36.1% compared to the average for the month of June between 2010-19). The peak of the fire season is often seen in August to September.

"So the consistent increase in June and July is worrisome," says Prof Castro.

And alerts so far in August look set to rival the number recorded last year. Fires this year are at the second highest level since 2010.

In the first seven months of 2020, more than 13,000sq km (5,019sq miles) of the Brazilian Amazon was burned, according to analysis of satellite data provided by Dr Michelle Kalamandeen, a tropical ecologist on the Amazon rainforest.

That's more than eight times the size of London.

Dr Kalamandeen says the torched forest often struggles to grow back.

"When a forest is lost, it is gone forever. Recovery may occur but never 100% recovery," she says.

When you look at the spread of the fires in Brazil, during the week of 11 August, there were noticeable clusters of fires in the Amazon, with Para, Mato Grosso, Amazonia and Rondonia states reporting a high number of alerts.

In areas around Novo Progresso in Para state, farmers reportedly held a "day of fire" last year and satellites have picked up more than 1,300 fire alerts in the past month, according to official statistics.

To the north-east, the large municipality of Altamira has recorded the most fires in Brazil's Amazon region during this period.

Brazilian climate scientist Carlos Nobre says there are two main issues contributing to forest fires this year.

The first is that this year's dry season is much drier than usual.

"The waters of the tropical north Atlantic are warmer this year and when that happens, we have less rainfall over the southern Amazon," says Professor Nobre.

The second is that there is a lot of felled forest left over from last year's logging - this is chopped wood that can fuel fires.

A lot of it didn't get burned as there was a military campaign to stop illegal activity in the forest

This year, the army has been conducting an operation to stop deforestation since June, and in July, President Bolsonaro imposed a four-month ban on forest fires.

Vice-President Hamilton Mourao recently launched a campaign against the fires, including an app for the public to report them.

"We will be out in the field in August to try to stop these fires becoming worse than last year," he told the BBC.

Activists and government critics remain sceptical, says Camilla Costa, a BBC World Service journalist.

According to the Brazilian defence ministry, 28,100 cubic metres of illegal wood has been confiscated with fines totalling 407.2 million Brazilian reais ($72.6m; £55m).

However, fires have continued in the region and critics complain about a lack of sufficient enforcement.

The number of forest fires in the Amazon regions of Colombia, Peru and Venezuela is up on this time last year.

For Amazonian countries, mining and agriculture is driving deforestation and as a result forest fires, according to Dr Kalamandeen.

In Venezuela, an increase in mining for gold is likely to be behind the increase, as since 2016 President Nicolas Maduro has opened up the sector to try and stem the country's economic collapse.

In Colombia, following the government's rapprochement with rebel group Farc in the past few years, areas have been opened up for farming, causing an increase in blazes, says Dr Kalamandeen.

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Amazon fires: Are they worse this year than before?

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Preserving the Amazon rainforest is of global importance in the fight against climate change, but it is under threat from forest fires, mostly started to clear land for agriculture. Early numbers from this year's fire season show an increase, leading to concern from scientists.

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Meanwhile, Brazil's leading meat export industry group and agricultural businesses have joined an environmental campaign calling for an end to deforestation in public lands in the Amazon and demanding government action.

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Amazon fires: Seven countries sign forest protection pact

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Meanwhile, Brazil's leading meat export industry group and agricultural businesses have joined an environmental campaign calling for an end to deforestation in public lands in the Amazon and demanding government action.

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