Nearly 40 percent of all the tropical rainforest left in the world is in the Brazilian Amazon. Brazil, the largest country in South America, has perhaps the best opportunity remaining to save large tracks of tropical rainforest. Although Brazil has lost approximately 58 percent of its frontier forests (large tracks of relatively undisturbed old growth forest), the country still has are over 772,200 square miles of frontier forest, among the largest amount of any country worldwide.
 

                        The waterfalls of Iguassu, near the border with Argentina and Paraguay

           Amazon Village near Manaus, in the tropical rainforest, reachable only by boat

Sadly, instead of conservation, the Brazilian government is currently sponsoring a $45 billion Amazon development plan known as 'Advance Brazil.' This program includes new roads, river channeling, and pipelines in the Amazon. Historically, similar development projects in the Amazon have caused influxes of new people to the region. In the past forty years, the region has seen a population explosion, expanding from two million to twenty million people. As more people arrive, more land is cleared for agriculture and urban development. Several scientific studies predict that approximately 40 percent of Brazil's Amazon Basin forests will be lost or seriously damaged in the next three decades as a result of 'Advance Brazil.'

Brazil is also home to a second, less famous rainforest, the Atlantic Rainforest. This strip of rainforest extends from the northeast coast down to the southern state of Parana. Formerly covering more than 386, 100 square miles, only 5 percent of the original Atlantic Rainforest remains. Many species that live here, including river otters, jaguars, and armadillos, are at high risk of extinction due to habitat loss caused by logging and agricultural clearing.

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