The Amazon is the world’s most iconic and well-known rainforest.

Spanning 1.4 billion acres across 9 countries, it supports 10% of the world’s biodiversity and is one of Earth’s largest carbon stores. All of us rely on the Amazon to keep our planet healthy.

Despite its critical importance locally and globally, the landscape is under imminent threat from deforestation, primarily from slash-and-burn agricultural practices. Over 20% of the region has already been destroyed and that number is slowly creeping up each day.

Not only are over 140,000 plant and animal species – including many still unknown to science – in danger of losing their habitat, but millions of indigenous people are under tremendous pressure from the logging and agro-industries, putting them in danger of losing their homes. Without the titles to their territories, native communities have no legal instrument to defend their homelands from destruction.

Protecting rainforests and supporting indigenous communities is the backbone of our work here at Rainforest Trust and the Amazon has been one of our top conservation priorities since our founding over 30 years ago.