Context: Recently, the Living Amazon Report, 2022 was released. The report is prepared by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

• Some 35 per cent of the rainforest is either totally lost or highly degraded, according to a new report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). 

• An estimated 17 per cent of the Amazon forests have been degraded, while another 18 per cent have been converted for other purposes, said the Living Amazon Report, 2022.

Key highlights of Living Amazon Report

• Amazon biome covers 6.7 million square kilometres and encompasses the world’s largest complex of forests and rivers.

• It is the source of 20 % of freshwater discharge into the Atlantic and stores 150-200 billion tonnes of carbon in its soils and vegetation.

• 35 % of the rainforest is either totally lost or highly degraded.

• An estimated 17 % of the Amazon forests have been degraded, while another 18 % have been converted for other purposes.

• Surface water has been lost and rivers are increasingly disconnected and polluted.

• This immense pressure will irreversibly damage the Amazon and the planet in general very shortly.

• Economic activities, most notably extensive cattle ranching and agriculture, illegal activities and poorly planned infrastructure, threaten the region and cause deforestation and degradation throughout the biome, with many areas severely affected.

• Climate change is a growing global concern that jeopardises the Amazon’s biodiversity.

• The protection of the Amazon requires a combination of strategies and approaches that combine conservation requirements with the developmental needs of the countries that comprise it.

Strategies for effective, integrated landscape management include:

• Conversion-free landscapes

• Sustainably managed forests

• Legal trade

• Ensuring the rights of indigenous peoples, local communities, women and young people

• Cross-cutting strategies in three key areas — policies, knowledge generation and communications — are also needed for the conservation and sustainable management of the Amazon biome, its forests and rivers.

Amazon Forest

• The Amazon covers a huge area (6.7 million sq km) of South America.

• Nearly 60% of the rainforest is in Brazil, while the rest is shared among eight other countries—Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela and French Guiana, an overseas territory of France.

• It is the world's biggest rainforest, larger than the next two largest rainforests — in the Congo Basin and Indonesia — combined.

• It is made up of a mosaic of ecosystems and vegetation types including rainforests, seasonal forests, deciduous forests, flooded forests, and savannas.

• The basin is drained by the Amazon River, the world's largest river in terms of discharge, and the second longest river in the world after the Nile.

• It is one of Earth’s last refuges for jaguars, harpy eagles, and pink river dolphins, and it is home to sloths, black spider monkeys, and poison dart frogs.

• It contains one in 10 known species on Earth, 40,000 plant species, 3,000 freshwater fish species, and more than 370 types of reptiles.

• In 2018, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.