Amazon River

The Amazon basin "is the largest drainage basin on Earth, occupying an area estimated to be 6,869,000 square kilometers or roughly 40 percent of the South American continent. It encompasses parts of the territories of nine countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guyana, Guyana, Peru, Surinam, and Venezuela. However, 69 percent of it is situated in Brazil. The basin is teeming with life. It is one of the most biodiverse systems in the world. Most of it, an estimated 5,500,000 square kilometers, is occupied by dense tropical forests; this represents 56 percent of all broad leaf forests in the world. It contains more than 30,000 species of plants, nearly 2,000 species of fish, 60 species of reptiles, 35 mammal families, and approximately 1,800 bird species. Amazonia is a vital system for climate stability. Its forests retain an immense amount of carbon that, if released, would greatly contribute to climate change.”