My relationship with the natural world began young, spurred by my grandfather, who had collected old geography magazines. I would spend hours on end running my fingers over the great green mass of the Amazon basin, which filled out these magazines. In 2026, the Amazon Rainforest is still as enigmatic, beautiful, and very much a part of our world’s sustainability as it was then. It is not a collection of trees, but a living, breathing system which defines the global climate.
Framing the Expanse: Amazon Rainforest map.
Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.
Interestingly, we see a world which, in large part, is without roads. The Amazon River and its meandering tributaries play the role of main highways. In places like Manaus and Belém in Brazil, we see large urban centres but go beyond the river’s edge into a few miles, and you enter a rainforest that is home to over 300 indigenous groups, which also include many that still live completely isolated from the modern world.
Mind-Blowing Facts and Secrets
This is a very rich history in the making, which we see in the present-day landscape. We are told by geologists that the forest is at least 55 million years old. In the past, the South American land mass did, in fact, have the Great Plains, which at that time drained into the Pacific. But then the Andes came up, which in turn caused the water to be contained, and we had a large internal sea, which only later broke through to the East towards the Atlantic.
Here is what I have for you on this amazing truth we present to you:
- The Breath of the World: The Amazon is responsible for over 30% of the world’s oxygen production and also acts as a large carbon sink.
- Saharan Connections: In a wonderful display of what may almost be called planetary cooperation, wind, which is a carrier of this dust from the Sahara Desert, brings to the Amazonian soil minerals that, in turn, feed the land.
- A Hidden Ocean: The Amazon is a force to be reckoned with, which pushes its fresh water out 200 km into the Atlantic, and by the time you see land, the water has already changed salinity.
A Paradise of Unrivalled Biodiversity
Biodiversity here is a treasure that includes 1 in 10 of all species on Earth. We are still discovering new species at an average rate of one every 4 days.
In the forest, we see a dense layer of diverse life. Giant trees such as the Brazil Nut stand out in the top layer of the forest, which is very thick. They are supported by large, wing-like buttress roots that grow into the soil, which is very thin. Also in this environment, we have lianas, which are woody climbing vines, and also the epiphytes like orchids and bromeliads, which grow high up in the air to get to the sun.
Through the thick vegetation, you will see some of the world’s most iconic species. At the top of the food chain, we have the jaguar, which has a bite force to take down turtles. Also present are the slow-moving sloths, pink river dolphins, and the brilliant macaws, which add splashes of colour to the green sky. Also, the fish that we see in home aquaria today have their origin right here.
The Fight for the Future in 2026
Deforestation for over five decades has been marked by logging, cattle ranching, and soy farming, which have been encroaching upon the edges. Also very much a practice in this time frame has been the “slash and burn” agriculture, which in turn depletes the poor soil of its nutrients, which in turn forces farmers to clear out more land.
In 2026, we see the forest, which is a sign of things to come. We have seen growth in modern conservation and implementation of better timber controls, which in turn has reduced the rate of destruction. Also, we are looking to the past at what indigenous groups did. We are studying “Terra Preta”, which is a very fertile dark soil that was made centuries ago out of charcoal and bone. From this, we are learning how the original caretakers of the land lived in balance and are applying that knowledge to the protection of what is, in fact, a priceless global resource for many years to come.
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