Water resources in the Amazonia area affect all natural and human-altered ecosystems in the region, including their human populations. Evapotranspiration by the Amazon forest provides water vapor that is transported by wind to other regions of Brazil and to neighboring countries. The enormous quantities of water involved in hydrological processes in Amazonia give great importance to the region’s water resources and to potential impacts if these cycles are altered.
The diversity of fish and other aquatic organisms is enormous, as is the importance of this fauna as economic and food resources for the human population. There are impacts from pollution, including mercury methylation in hydroelectric reservoirs. Dams also block migration of fish and alter the flooding cycles of rivers. Hydroelectric dams release methane, thereby contributing to global warming.
The chemical characteristics of different types of water affect processes such as the transport of organic carbon, the supply of nutrients to the plankton that are the base of the food chain in aquatic ecosystems, and the quantity of bio-available ions that affect sensitivity of organisms to copper and other toxic elements. Several of the major rivers in the region drain more than one country.
The Amazonian forest is gradually declining in virtually every area, many square kilometers of forest have been cleared over the last century, most of them in recent decades. This was due to many factors.
First of all, burning forest areas and their legal and illegal cutting. The land obtained in this way is intended for new pastures for cattle, soybean, maize, sugar cane and oil palm (for biofuels).
Destruction is also caused by expanding cities and large investments, such as the construction of power plants or mines that exploit local natural resources, including oil.
Global warming is also destroying the fauna and flora of the Amazon. Scientists believe that a rise in global temperature of more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels will result in catastrophic flooding and drought, rising sea levels, and heat waves and epidemics.
The importance of the Amazon for the Earth’s climate cannot be underestimated. Keeping temperatures on our planet at the right levels is not only important, it is also a sufficient source of freshwater to influence ocean currents, and its lush vegetation absorbs the most carbon dioxide in the world. In turn, the destruction of such a large area of wet equatorial forests will make it impossible to maintain the global temperature at a level that would prevent natural disasters.
The result of these phenomena is the destruction of biodiversity and the extinction of many species of plants and animals. Indirectly, it affects the quality of life of all of us, because it stabilizes the Earth’s climate and affects the weather by regulating rainfall and evaporation of water from the soil.
Millions of animals, especially from the Amazon, are illegally sold in Brazil and abroad, illustrates the Wildlife Trafficking in Brazil report, supported by USAID, through the Wildlife Trafficking Response, Assessment, and Priority Setting (Wildlife TRAPS) project.
River turtles, fish, jaguars, and birds are the most frequently poached in the Amazon region. According to the seizure data between 2012 and 2019, the largest illegal wildlife trade in the Brazilian Amazon, by volume, is the smuggling of river turtle eggs. They are used as decorative items (shells), and for culinary purposes.
Over 30 ornamental fish species were trafficked to meet regional and international demand. In these seven years, Tetra-cardenal, Silver Arowana, and critically-endangered Zebra Pleco were among the most seized.
For consumption, the pirarucu, one of the world’s largest freshwater fish species, is the principal target for poaching and trafficking. The report points out that lack of quality data and difficulty coordinating monitoring of illegal commerce conceal the extent of illicit trade.
To reduce illegal wildlife trade, the study offers several recommendations, including developing a national strategy to combat trafficking, enhanced data collection and shared information across agencies, to strengthen environmental crime legislation.
