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Research about the different actions that governments from different countries are doing in order to protect forests. Add any videos, pictures, or links in order to support the activities the countries have done so far.

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In Ecuador, the government began campaigns protecting the natural resources first, as the Cerro Blanco in Guayaquil

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Saving Ecuador's Cerro Blanco - earthrise (lead)

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In Peru,  the government started to look for funding  to protect areas like parks, mountains, rivers, forests.

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Protecting Peru's Natural Legacy | Projects | WWF

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World Wildlife Fund - The leading organization in wildlife conservation and endangered species.

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In Brazil, there exists 6 ways that government and people are doing in order to protect forests.

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By Orion McCarthy

WHAT DO YOU think of when you hear the words "Amazon rainforest"?

Or do you think of deforestation, clear cutting, and environmental disaster?

Such thinking is certainly warranted. Since 1970, an area of the Amazon larger than the size of Texas has been cleared. Apart from the irreplaceable loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, deforestation emits substantial greenhouse gasses, accounting for nearly of global emissions. In short, deforestation of the Amazon is bad news.

But now, more than ever, there is hope for the Amazon on the horizon.

Such progress is largely thanks to Brazil. As the largest Amazon nation, demographic changes, policies and conservation measures taken by Brazil more or less dictate the future of the Amazon rainforest. Before 2005, Brazil struggled to control rampant expansion into the Amazon and the resulting clear-cutting for ranching and soybean production.

How did Brazil accomplish such a drastic change?

Historically, cattle ranching has been the greatest driver of deforestation in the Amazon, followed in recent decades by growing global demand for . In 2006, mounting political pressure and bad publicity associated with rainforest destruction pushed the two biggest buyers of Brazilian soybeans, Cargill and McDonalds, to freeze their purchases of soybeans sourced from recently cleared rainforest. Such action led to a national moratorium on soybeans grown on land that had been deforested since 2006, discouraging deforestation in the process. The cattle industry followed suit in 2009, as packing plants and slaughterhouses in Brazil refused to source cattle from ranches within 10km of deforestation fronts. In spite of these new restrictions, the cattle and soybean industries have done well in Brazil, increasing in size and scope in the face of surging international demand.

Scale poses a huge hurdle for any government agency seeking to enforce wildlife law over a large area. The Amazon rainforest covers a whopping 5.5 million square kilometers, and even with satellites flying overhead, someone has to be on the ground to enforce forestry laws. The Brazilian government got tough on rainforest crime with a series of high profile fines for violators by focusing their efforts on patrolling roads leading into the rainforest. Such focus by law enforcement increased the efficiency of patrols over such a large area.

The Way Forward

Even with promising results in Brazil, deforestation is still a global problem. In 2014, the world lost 182,000 square kilometers of forest, an area the size of North Dakota. Furthermore, the Amazon is not out of the woods yet, with no guarantee that promising trends will continue. However, Brazil has proven that reducing deforestation is possible over a short period of time, and there is real potential for a complete halt to Amazon deforestation in coming years.

What YOU can do

You can do your part to ensure that you don't inadvertently contribute to rainforest deforestation. Many products, such as chocolate, coconut, palm oil, coffee, vanilla, cinnamon, pepper, exotic woods such as teak and mahogany, and even some medicines, are sourced from rainforests around the world.

This doesn't mean you have to give up all these things. Many rainforest products can be grown and harvested sustainably, you just might have to pay attention to brands and labels to find sustainable products. Look for fair-trade and organic products, or products certified by the Rainforest Alliance, the Forestry Stewardship Council (), or the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil ().

Look up your favorite snack foods online to learn more about where they come from. If they appear to be unsustainable, email the company. The threat of bad PR or even boycotts from enough consumers can be enough to get some companies to change. If they realize we care about the rainforest, they might begin to care as well.

LEARN MORE

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By Orion McCarthy WHAT DO YOU think of when you hear the words "Amazon rainforest "? Or do you think of deforestation, clear cutting, and environmental disaster ? Such thinking is certainly warranted. Since 1970, an area of the Amazon larger than the size of Texas has been cleared.