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Our Ocean - Coral Reef Conservation (David's Mum)

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Our Ocean - Coral Reef Conservation (David's Mum)

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OUR OCEAN: CORAL REEFS - Ocean Conservation #4 | Conservation International Singapore

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SciShow - Great Barrier Reef (Australia)

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SciShow - Great Barrier Reef (Australia)

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Raja Ampat: The Last Stronghold of Healthy Coral Reefs | National Geographic

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Take a tour of some of the most biodiverse areas in our oceans. Coral reefs have all types of marine life.

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Book Animated - Save The Reef - Coral Reefs

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Book Animated - Save The Reef - Coral Reefs

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Save the Reef Animated Audiobook | A Story About Coral Reefs

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A Journey Along The Great Barrier Reef - Google Arts & Culture

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Join us on an underwater journey along the largest living structure on the planet and one of the natural wonders of the world - Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Learn about this awe-inspiring coral reef environment and meet its fascinating marine creatures.

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Find the parts about coral reefs! How do animals/plants NEED each other? What happens if it becomes UNBALANCED?

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Our Planet | Coastal Seas | FULL EPISODE | Netflix

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Our Planet | From Deserts to Grasslands | FULL EPISODE | Netflix

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Our Planet | Jungles | FULL EPISODE | Netflix

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Our Planet | Frozen Worlds | FULL EPISODE | Netflix

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Deforestation | Causes, Effects & Solutions | Video for Kids

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Amazon Forest Fire Explained! | Peekaboo Shorts | Best Learning Videos For Kids | Peekaboo Kidz

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A Relaxing Journey To The Rainforests of South America | The Wild Place | BBC Earth

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Biomes and Habitats - G3 Book Collection on Epic

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View the Biomes and Habitats - G3 collection on Epic plus over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids.

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Temperate Grasslands-Biomes of the World

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Why Animals Don’t Cross This Invisible Border 🚧 Wallace Line 😱

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Forest, Tundra, Desert, Taiga!

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Travel the world on this field trip to see the variety of biomes.

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3A - Chosen biomes to inquire further into!

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3A - Chosen biomes to inquire further into!

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Hey, I'm Dale! I'm a traveler, educator, and parent of a special needs child. These three passions are why I founded Virtual Field Trips and created these videos for you to use in your classroom.

Visiting 40+ countries on six continents taught me the educational value of exposure to other places, cultures, people, wildlife, and landscapes. As an M.Ed. in Instructional Technology, I'm also passionate about serving other educators. And as a proud mom to a son with special needs, I understand the power of visual learning.

Virtual Field Trips and all its videos, quizzes, and activities are my way of helping you introduce your students to the marvels of the world around them, in a visual form that will engage and educate all your young learners.

It's easy, it's affordable, and, most importantly - it'll help you teach your curriculum in the most fun & memorable way.

Become a member today! Your students will love you for it.

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Teachers and Students - Great virtual field trips!

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Teachers and Students - Great virtual field trips!

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Virtual field trips are a game changer. Not only do they fill in for real field trips when budgets and other roadblocks prevent in-person options, but virtual field trips also open doors to educational experiences all over the country and the world, both past and present. No fundraising or permission slips required!

(Note: For anyone who needs it, YouTube offers a closed-captioning option. Just click the CC button in the bottom right-hand corner.)

Amazon Career Tours are free virtual field trips that inspire students to pursue careers of the future. Tour whenever, wherever on Kahoot! Each tour comes with a Teacher Toolkit that includes a facilitation guide and student worksheets.

2. The Zoo

There are so many amazing online options when it comes to zoos that we couldn't narrow it down to just one. Most zoos have live webcams in some of their most popular exhibits, such as the KC Zoo Polar Bear Cam and the Giant Panda Cam at Smithsonian's National Zoo. However, some zoos offer a more in-depth look. You'll definitely want to check out the San Diego Zoo as their site for kids includes behind-the-scenes videos and stories, as well as a variety of printable activities and online games. Check out our full list of virtual zoo goodness.

3. The Aquarium

It's a similar story with aquariums. You have your pick of live webcams, but our favorites are the Georgia Aquarium's Ocean Voyager webcam (wait for the whale shark!) and the "Jelly Cam" at Monterey Bay Aquarium (so soothing). The Seattle Aquarium even has a 30-minute video tour. Want more under-the-sea fun? Here's our ultimate list of virtual aquarium field trips.

4. The Farm

The classic preschool field trip goes online! You can have your pick of dairy farm field trips, but we like this one from the Dairy Alliance and this one from Stonyfield Organic. Farm Food 360 gives students the opportunity to immerse themselves in Canadian farm and food tours-from raising pigs to making milk and cheese. We're also loving these virtual egg farm field trips from the American Egg Board.

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5. An Art Museum

We found 20 art museums with virtual tours, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art's # MetKids and its awesome Where's Waldo? setup. And you can't miss the world-famous Louvre in Paris (no passport needed!). Check out the current virtual tours: Traveling Materials and Objects, the Advent of the Artist, the Body in Movement, and Founding Myths: From Hercules to Darth Vader!

6. A National Park

From webcams at Hawaii volcanoes to a virtual run along the rim of the Grand Canyon, you have tons of options here. Our top pick would have to be Yellowstone. The interactive maps are a great way to see the Mammoth Hot Springs and Mud Volcano, but we think kids will be psyched about the Old Faithful Geyser livestream and the opportunity to make their own predictions for its next eruption. Check out everything the National Park Service has to offer virtually.

7. A Planetarium

Through Stellarium Web, kids can explore over 60,000 stars, locate planets, and watch sunrises and solar eclipses. If you enter your location, you can see all the constellations that are visible in the night sky in your corner of the world.

Take your students on a virtual field trip of a recycling center and a modern landfill. Plus, there's a full-on curriculum that includes lesson plans, take-home handouts, and more.

Nickelodeon teamed up with two astronauts on the International Space Station to demonstrate how slime reacts to microgravity and had kids reproduce those same demonstrations back here on Earth. It makes for an amazing 15-minute virtual field trip.

The Nature Conservancy has a brand-new virtual field trip entitled "You're the Scientist! Citizen Science, Frogs & Cicadas." Check out their full library of videos on topics like climate change and water security.

Discovery Education hosts a variety of virtual events -each with a companion guide with hands-on learning activities. Current offerings include "Making a New Life: The Courage of a Refugee" and "The Future Is Now" (architectural and engineering innovations). Stay tuned for their upcoming civics virtual field trip, "The American Ideal."

This virtual field trip from Great Lakes Now has three components: coastal wetlands, algae, and lake sturgeon. Each video is a quick five minutes long.

Explore online exhibits and discover the history and evolution of play. Check out board games that changed play, sports video games that shaped digital play, and the making of Monopoly to name a few.

Kids can learn about the most recent Census and how census data is collected and used. This virtual field trip also features interviews with subject matter experts and an interactive challenge.

The "Museum of We the People," the Constitution Center serves as a "headquarters for civic education." Check out the Interactive Constitution section, and be sure to watch the virtual tour.

Houston, we have a virtual field trip. Three, actually. All with companion educator guides. The star of the show is the behind-the-scenes tour of the Johnson Space Center.

Boise State put together this fully interactive virtual field trip with text, photos, audio, and video about the history of music. The four featured music locations are: Vienna, Austria; New Orleans, Louisiana; Cleveland, Ohio; and Bristol, Tennessee-Virginia.

This living-history museum provides a look into life in an early American community. The website offers five different webcams featuring areas such as the tavern and the armory.

This virtual experience of George Washington's home is incredibly well done. Enter the different buildings-from the opulent mansion to the chilling slave quarters-and click on different items for video and text explanations.

This virtual tour comes with a real tour guide! Blaine Kortemeyer is the Assistant Chief of Interpretation and Education, who lends his expertise on the building of this national monument. The 3D Explorer is also an excellent tool.

Take a visit to the National WWII Museum for "a cross-country virtual expedition to discover the science, sites, and stories of the creation of the atomic bomb." Don't forget to download the classroom guide!

For a look inside the iconic building, check out the 360° tour of some of the most historic rooms of the People's House, from the Situation Room to the Oval Office. Examine each room and check out the contents up close.

The National Museum of Natural History's virtual experiences are self-guided, room-by-room tours of permanent, current, and past exhibits. Be sure to send kids to the second floor Bone Hall so they can take a look at all different kinds of skeletons.

A collaboration with over 1,200 leading museums and archives, Google Arts & Culture is an incredible storehouse of monumental works of art. We recommend the Street View and Play sections.

Boasting the world's largest collection of 360° image videos, 360 Cities provides kids with the opportunity to see stunning panoramas across the globe, including their video of the ice floe on the Vistula River in Poland.

It's the official residence of the Queen of England, and boy, is it opulent! Get a peek inside the gorgeous Grand Staircase, White Drawing Room, Throne Room, and Blue Drawing Room.

See one of the wonders of the world with this amazing, thousands-year-old fortification system known the world over. This virtual tour has four scenes available (you have to pay to get access to all 14). The bird's-eye view of Mutianyu pass is a highlight.

Most of us recognize the giant stone statues of Easter Island, but what's the story behind them? Nova's online adventure "Secrets of Easter Island" delves into the mystery with a virtual tour.

National Geographic lets you explore the world's largest cave, located in Vietnam. Use the interactive map to enjoy the fully immersive experience (sound on!).

You don't need a time machine! Discovering Ancient Egypt has a ton of free resources, but it's the interactive pyramid map and 3D temple reconstructions that really give it a field trip feel.

Virtually visit Turn Back the Clock, a museum exhibit that ran for two years at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago. Through compelling personal stories, innovative interactive media, and pop culture artifacts, the exhibit takes guests through seven decades of history-from the dawn of the nuclear age to significant policy questions our leaders face today.

No, really! You can absolutely "go" to the red planet. With Access Mars, you can see the actual surface of Mars, recorded by NASA's Curiosity rover. Trust us-don't skip the intro. And if your kids liked that, check out this 4K tour of the moon. These may go down in history as some of the best virtual field trips your students get to experience.

Take a virtual tour of this historical battleship located on the Camden waterfront. This battleship has traveled more miles than any other!

No need to travel to Rome! Take in the amazing art and architecture located in the Vatican Museums with these 360-degree views.

Download the app and climb aboard the virtual tram line! Take a virtual walk through the Space Center Houston with informational stops along the way.

Virtually visit museum rooms in the famous Louvre located in Paris. Even check out The Louvre kids' site for student-friendly galleries and stories. You can't visit The Louvre without seeing the Mona Lisa, so check out their immersive Mona Lisa experience available in the app store.

This interactive tour of Ellis Island lets students explore places like the Baggage Room and the Stairs of Separation through short stories, historical photographs, videos, and audio clips. Students can also hear the stories of real kids who recently immigrated to the United States, explore colorful charts and graphs with immigration data, and watch a 30-minute movie that includes a Q&A with National Park Service Rangers who explain what coming to America was like for many immigrants.

38. Plimoth Patuxet Museums

Travel back to the 17th century with options for free, on-demand, digital resources or a live, 1-hour virtual school program led by a Plimoth Patuxet Contemporary Indigenous Museum Educator. Students explore Wampanoag daily life and history; discover the real history of Thanksgiving and the legend behind it; meet a 17th-century Pilgrim; get an interactive sneak peak into 17th-century wardrobes; and learn about simple machines and water power at the Plimoth Grist Mill. There are also options for virtual hands-on history workshops, including Wampanoag Pottery and Write Like a Pilgrim.

When you can't visit the museum in person, 3D virtual field trips to the Children's Museum Houston are the next best thing. All videos are produced and curated by museum educators and feature hands-on activities that can be done in the classroom. Topics include nutrition, math, states of matter, forces and properties of water, and more.

Beyond the Battle Field is a virtual field trip for grades 2-8 hosted by Lauren Tarshis, author of the I Survived historical-fiction series for kids. Students will meet a museum educator as well as the museum curator, and explore artifacts and documents from the American Revolution. Plus they'll hear the stories of teens who served during the war. There's also a Classroom Kit available with a vocabulary list and discussion questions by grade level.

If you liked this roundup of the best virtual field trips and want more resources like this, be sure to subscribe to our newsletters.

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40 Amazing Educational Virtual Field Trips

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You can't always get there in person, but lots of places will let you "visit" online. These are the best virtual field trips out there!

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3B - Chosen biomes to inquire further into! 

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3B - Chosen biomes to inquire further into! 

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The world is getting hotter... Climate Change

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The world is getting hotter... Climate Change

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When The World Gets 1℃ Hotter | Climate Change: The Facts | BBC Earth

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What is Climate Change? Explore the Causes of Climate Change

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Look here for resources for your questions!

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Discusses problems and actions

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NASA satellites keep an eye on Earth's water and air-which are essential for life on Earth. Some satellites can monitor plant health, too.

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It's hard to imagine that global warming would have much effect on the world's already hot deserts. But even small changes in temperature or precipitation could drastically impact plants and animals living in the desert. In some cases global warming is predicted to increase the area of deserts, which already cover a quarter of Earth.

Human activities such as firewood gathering and the grazing of animals are also converting semiarid regions into deserts, a process known as desertification. Population growth and greater demand for land are serious obstacles in the effort to combat this problem.

Threats

Global warming is increasing the incidence of drought, which dries up water holes. Higher temperatures may produce an increasing number of wildfires that alter desert landscapes by eliminating slow-growing trees and shrubs and replacing them with fast-growing grasses.

Irrigation used for agriculture may in the long term lead to salt levels in the soil that become too high to support plants. Grazing animals can destroy many desert plants and animals. Potassium cyanide used in gold mining may poison wildlife.

Off-road vehicles, when used irresponsibly, can cause irreparable damage to desert habitats. Oil and gas production may disrupt sensitive habitat. And nuclear waste may be dumped in deserts, which have also been used as nuclear testing grounds.

Solutions

We can more efficiently use existing water resources and better control salinization to improve arid lands, find new ways to rotate crops to protect the fragile soil, and plant sand-fixing bushes and trees.

Planting leguminous plants, which extract nitrogen from the air and fix it in the ground, can help restore soil fertility. People can also use off-road vehicles only on designated trails and roadways and dig artificial grooves in the ground to retain rainfall and trap windblown seeds.

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Learn about what threatens our deserts and what you can do to help.

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Rainforests for Kids | Learn all about the two types of rainforests

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The tortoises can live up to 40 years in the deserts of the southwestern United States, but due to habitat destruction, desert tortoises are struggling for survival.

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What if all Coral Reefs Disappeared? | #aumsum #kids #science #education #children

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Extinct and Endangered Animals - What can we do?

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Extinct and Endangered Animals - What can we do?

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Extinct and Endangered Animals for Kids | What we can do to protect endangered species

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Polar Bears and How to Save Them | Mission Animal Rescue

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7 Most Endangered Species in the Desert | Earth.Org

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Discover seven of the most endangered species in the desert ecosystem, from the Sahara Desert to the Mojave Desert in the US.

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What If All Trees Were Cut Down? | Earth Without Trees | The Dr Binocs Show | Peekaboo Kidz

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Why palm oil kills orangutans – an animated short story

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The Tragedy Of Deforestation | Climate Change: The Facts | BBC Earth

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Tropical rainforests have an outsized role in the world, with their significance marked by the World Rainforest Day. Of the Earth's ecosystems, rainforests support the largest variety of plants and animal species, house the majority of indigenous groups still living in isolation from the rest of humanity, and power the mightiest rivers. Rainforests lock up vast amounts of carbon, moderate local temperature, and influence rainfall and weather patterns at regional and planetary scales. -
D espite their importance however, deforestation in the world's tropical forests has remained persistently high since the 1980s due to rising human demand for food, fibre, and fuel and the failure to recognize the value of forests as healthy and productive ecosystems. Since 2002, an average of 3.2 million hectares of primary tropical forests-the most biodiverse and carbon-dense type of forest-have been destroyed per year. An even larger area of secondary forest is cleared or degraded.

In recognition of World Rainforest Day 2020, which was launched in 2017 by Rainforest Partnership, below is a brief look at the state of the world's largest remaining tropical rainforests.
Note: All figures below are based on 2020 data from the University of Maryland (UMD) and World Resources Institute (WRI) using a 30% canopy cover threshold. Tree cover loss does not account for regrowth, reforestation, or afforestation. The Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon is the world's largest and best known tropical rainforest. As measured by primary forest extent, the Amazon rainforest is more than three times larger than that of the Congo Basin, the world's second largest rainforest. The Amazon rainforest accounts for just over a third of tree cover across the tropics.

The Amazon River, which drains an area nearly the size of the forty-eight contiguous United States, is the world's biggest river. It carries more than five times the volume of the Congo or twelve times that of the Mississippi. By one estimate, 70% of South America's GDP is produced in areas that receive rainfall generated by the Amazon rainforest. This includes South America's agricultural breadbasket and some of its largest cities.

Due to its size, the Amazon leads all tropical forest areas in terms of its annual area of forest loss. Between 2002 and 2019, more than 30 million hectares of primary forest was cleared in the region, or about half the world's total tropical primary forest loss during that period.

The Amazon is thought to house more than half the world's "uncontacted" tribes living in voluntary isolation from the rest of humanity. However the vast majority of indigenous peoples in the Amazon live in cities, towns, and villages.
You might also like: Insects Decline on Land, Fare Better in Water, Study Finds
Extent: 628 million hectares of tree cover, including 526 million hectares of primary forest, in 2020.

Major countries: About 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest lies within the borders of Brazil; the balance is found in parts of Peru (13%), Colombia (8%), Venezuela (6%), Bolivia (6%), Guyana (3%), Ecuador (2%), and Suriname (2%), as well as French Guiana (1%), a department of France.

Most famous species: Jaguar; tapir; capybara; river dolphins; various monkeys and parrots. Bulk numbers: more than 40,000 plant species, including 16,000 tree species; 3,000 fish; 1,300 birds, 1,000 amphibians; 430 mammals, and 400 reptiles.

Deforestation trend: Rising in most countries, led by Brazil. The Amazon lost over 30 million hectares of primary forest (5.5% of the 2001 extent) and 44.5 million hectares of tree cover (6.6%) between 2002 and 2019.
The Congo Rainforest
The second largest block of tropical rainforest is found in the Congo Basin, which drains an area of 3.7 million square kilometers. The majority of the Congo rainforest lies within the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which accounts for 60 percent of Central Africa's lowland primary forest. Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, and Equatorial Guinea account for nearly all the rest of the Congo Basin rainforest.

Until the early 2010s, deforestation in the Congo Basin was relatively low. War and chronic political instability, poor infrastructure, and lack of large-scale industrial agriculture help limit forest loss in the region. Most deforestation was driven by subsistence activities, though degradation due to logging was substantial. The situation is changing however: deforestation has been trending sharply upward in recent years.

Extent: 288 million hectares of tree cover, including 168 million hectares of primary forest, in 2020.

Major countries: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (60% of the Congo's primary forest), Gabon (13%), Republic of the Congo (12%), Cameroon (10%), Central African Republic (3%), and Equatorial Guinea (1%).

Most famous species: Forest elephants; okapi; great apes including gorillas, bonobos, and chimps.

Deforestation trend: Deforestation is rising rapidly though it remains lower on a percentage basis than other major forest regions. The Congo lost over 6 million hectares of primary forest (3.5% of the 2001 extent) and 13.5 million hectares of tree cover (4.5%) between 2002 and 2019.
Australiasian Realm
The Australiasian rainforest includes tropical forests on the island of New Guinea and northeastern Australia as well as scattered islands that were connected when sea levels dropped during that last ice age. As a consequence of this linkage, both land masses have common assemblages of plants and animals, while conspicuously lacking groups found on islands further west. For example, cats, monkeys, and civets are absent from New Guinea and Australia, but both have an unusually high diversity of marsupials like kangaroos, wallabies, cuscuses, and opossums.

Virtually all this region's primary tropical rainforest is on the island of New Guinea, which is roughly split between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

New Guinea is the most linguistically diverse island on the planet with some 800 languages. There are believed to be a few uncontacted groups in remote parts of New Guinea.

Among major forest areas, Australiasia had the second lowest rate of primary forest loss since 2001, but deforestation is trending upward due to logging and conversion for plantations.

Extent: 89 million hectares of tree cover, including 64 million hectares of primary forest, in 2020.

Major countries: Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua (51% of the region's primary forest), Papua New Guinea (49%), and Australia (under 1%).

Most famous species: Tree kangaroos; cassowaries; giant ground pigeons; saltwater crocodiles.

Deforestation trend: Deforestation is rising rapidly due to plantation agriculture, especially oil palm. The Indonesian part of New Guinea lost 605,000 hectares of primary forest since 2002 (1.8% of its 2001 cover), while PNG lost 732,000 hectares (2.2%). New Guinea is seen as the last frontier for large-scale agroindustrial expansion in Indonesia.
Sundaland
Sundaland includes the islands of Borneo, Sumatra, and Java, among others as well as Peninsular Malaysia. Most of the region's remaining forest is on the island of Borneo, which is divided politically between Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei.

Sundaland lost the world's largest share of primary forest cover between 2002 and 2019. Borneo lost 15% of such forests, while Sumatra lost 25%. Deforestation for oil palm and timber plantations, as well as fires set for land-clearing, are the biggest drivers of deforestation. However deforestation has been slowing since the mid-2010s.

Extent: 103 million hectares of tree cover, including 51 million hectares of primary forest, in 2020.

Major countries: Indonesia (73% of the region's primary forest cover) and Malaysia (26%). Brunei and Singapore have less than 1% of the region's forests.

Most famous species: Elephants; orangutans; two species of rhino; tigers; various hornbill and monkey species.

Deforestation trend: Deforestation is the highest of any major forest region, but trending downward. Between 2002 and 2019, Borneo lost 5.8 million hectares of primary forest (15% of 2001 cover), Sumatra 3.8 million hectares (25%), and Peninsular Malaysia 726,000 hectares (14%). Indonesia accounted for 75% of primary forest loss in the region, compared with 25% for Malaysia.
Indo-Burma
The Indo-Burma region includes a mix of tropical forest types, from mangroves to lowland rainforests to seasonal forests. Historical large-scale forest loss due to human population pressure means that surviving forests in this region are more fragmented than other regions mentioned so far. Most of the region's tree cover consists of plantations, crops, and secondary forests.

The largest extent of primary forests in this region are in Myanmar, which has about one-third of the total area.

Indo-Burma lost about 8% of its primary forests and 12% of its tree cover since 2001. Cambodia accounted for more than a third of the region's primary forest loss during this period.

Extent: 139 million hectares of tree cover, including 40 million hectares of primary forest, in 2020.

Major countries: Myanmar (34% of the region's primary forest cover), Laos (19%), Vietnam (15%), Thailand (14%), Cambodia (8%), far eastern India (6%), and parts of southern China (4%).

Most famous species: Elephants; two species of rhino; tigers; gibbons; leopards.

Deforestation trend: The rate of primary forest loss was roughly flat over the past 20 years, while tree cover loss is accelerating. Cambodia accounted for 34% of primary forest loss, followed by Laos (21%), Vietnam (18%), and Myanmar (16%). Cambodia lost over 28% of its 2001 primary forest cover over the period as natural forests were increasingly converted to plantations and industrial projects.
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerican rainforests extend from southern Mexico to southern Panama. Costa Rica's rainforests are arguably the best known in the region thanks to its world-famous ecotourism industry, but the country ranks fifth in terms of primary forest cover.

Extent: 51 million hectares of tree cover, including 16 million hectares of primary forest, in 2020.

Major countries: Mexico (39% of Mesoamerica's primary forest cover), Guatemala (13%), Honduras (11%), Panama (11%), Nicaragua (10%), and Costa Rica (9%).

Most famous species: Jaguar; puma; tapir; peccary.

Deforestation trend: The rate of primary forest loss and tree cover loss accelerated toward the end of the 2010s driven by increasing incidence of fire, coupled with conversion of forests for cattle pasture, plantations, and smallholder agriculture. Mexico (534,000 hectares of primary forest loss), Guatemala (480,000), and Nicaragua (460,000) lost the greatest area of primary forest between 2002 and 2019. Costa Rica lost less than 2% of its primary forest during the period. In contrast, Nicaragua lost nearly 30%.
Wallacea
Wallacea represents a biogeographic oddity. When sea levels fell during the last ice age, islands to the west of this area joined continental Asia, while islands to the east got connected to land mass formed from Australia and New Guinea. As a result, Wallacea today has an unusual mix of species, drawing plant and animal groups from both regions, but also having high levels of endemism.

Extent: 24.4 million hectares of tree cover, including 14.6 million hectares of primary forest, in 2020.

Major countries: Indonesia. More than 60% of Wallacea's primary forest cover is on the island of Sulawesi. The Maluku islands account for 34%.

Most famous species: Babirusa; tarsiers and various monkeys; hornbills; cuscuses.

Deforestation trend: The rate of primary forest loss and tree cover loss jumped in 2015 and 2016 following a particularly bad fire season. Deforestation for industrial plantations, including oil palm and coconut, increased in the 2010s.
Guinean Forests of West Africa
The Guinean Forests of West Africa consists of the lowland tropical forests that extend from Liberia and Sierra Leone to the Nigeria-Cameroon border. These forests have been greatly diminished by agriculture, including subsistence farming by small-holders and commercial cacao, timber, and oil palm plantations.

Extent: 42 million hectares of tree cover, including 10.2 million hectares of primary forest, in 2020.

Major countries: Liberia (41% of the region's primary forest cover), Cameroon (17%), Nigeria (17%), Côte d'Ivoire (10%), and Ghana (10%).

Most famous species: Gorillas and chimps; pygmy hippo; various monkey species.

Deforestation trend: The rate of primary forest loss has been rising since the mid 2000s. Tree cover loss sharply accelerated in the 2010s. While Côte d'Ivoire accounted for only an eighth of the region's primary forest cover in 2001, it had nearly 40% of total primary forest loss between 2002 and 2019. The country lost about a third of its total primary forests in less than 20 years.
Atlantic Forest
The Atlantic Forest once extended from northeastern Brazil into the hinterlands of Argentina and Paraguay. Today it has been greatly reduced by agriculture and urbanization. Most of the tree cover in this region is crops, plantations, or secondary forests.

Extent: 89 million hectares of tree cover, including 9.3 million hectares of primary forest, in 2020.

Major countries: Brazil (86% of the region's primary forest cover), Argentina (9.5%), and Paraguay (4%).

Most famous species: Jaguar; Puma; Golden Lion Tamarin; Howler monkeys.

Deforestation trend: The rate of primary forest loss in the Atlantic Forest-known as the Mata Atlântica in Brazil-has slowed since the 20th century, with annual deforestation remaining relatively flat.
Chocó-Darien
The Chocó rainforest extends from southern Panama and along the Pacific Coast of South America through Colombia and Ecuador. It is the world's wettest rainforest and has the lowest deforestation rate of any of the regions covered in this post. The Chocó is home to both Amerindian tribes and Afroindigenous or "maroon" communities.

Extent: 15.6 million hectares of tree cover, including 8.4 million hectares of primary forest, in 2020.

Major countries: Colombia (79% of the region's primary forest cover), Panama (13%), and Ecuador (8%).

Most famous species: Jaguar; Puma; various monkeys.

Deforestation trend: Primary forest loss in the Chocó amounted to 1.4% of its 2001 extent between 2002 and 2019. Ecuador and Panama accounted for a disproportionately large share of this loss.
Other Regions This list is limited to the ten largest rainforests. Missing the cut are the forests of the Eastern Himalayas; East Melanesian Islands; the Philippines; Indian Ocean islands, including Madagascar; Eastern Afromontane; the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka; the Caribbean; and Polynesia-Micronesia. This article was originally published on Mongabay, written by Rhett A. Butler, and is republished here as part of an editorial partnership with Earth.Org.

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World Rainforest Day: The World's Top 10 Greatest Rainforests | Earth.Org - Past | Present | Future

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Tropical rainforests have an outsized role in the world, with their significance marked by the World Rainforest Day. Of the Earth's ecosystems, rainforests support the largest variety of plants and animal species, house the majority of indigenous groups still living in isolation from the rest of humanity, and power the mightiest rivers.

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