Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest , and recover of degraded pastures. In August 2017, Brazilian president Michel Temer abolished an Amazonian nature reserve the size of Denmark in Brazil's northern states of Pará and Amapá. Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest The cattle sector of the Brazilian Amazon, incentivized by the international beef and leather trades, has been responsible for about 80% of all deforestation in the region, or about 14% of the world's total annual deforestation, making it the world's largest single driver of deforestation. By 2017, 20% of land forested before 1970 in the Amazon had been deforested, and 90% of that been converted
Amazon insects Amazon insects The Amazon Rainforest and surrounding region is the most biodiverse on earth and no life form is more diverse than the insects of the Amazon. No one can put any accurate figure on how many species there are but it has been estimated to be around 2.5 million species of insect with 700 species of beetle discovered on just one tree. There are 7,000 species of butterfly compared to 20,000 worldwide. One acre may have 70,000 species of insects alone. The rate of new species being discovered annually is around 10,000 with a majority in the Amazon River