Area: Seven million square kilometres
spread in 9 South American nations: Brazil, Peru, Colombia,
Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Venezuela, Suriname, and French
Guiana. It's the largest rainforest on Earth, as large
as Western Europe or the whole of the US. It covers
around 40% of the South American continent.
Ecosystem: The Amazon Rainforest
accounts for more than half of the planet's remaining
tropical forests, and it is thought to be the most diverse
ecosystem on Earth: more than 1/3 of all species in
the world live here. It has the world's highest diversity
of birds (some 1.300 species) and freshwater fish (3.000
species), as well as 10% of Earth's mammals (more than
400 species) and 15% of land-based plant species, with
as many as 300 species of tree in a single hectare.