Introduction to Rivers
“A natural stream of water of fairly large size flowing in a definite course or channel or series of diverging and converging channels.” – http://www.dictionary.com/browse/river. Rivers play a very important role in our human lives. Rivers are one of our sources of food, energy, transportation routes and water for us to drink. Rivers are present on every continent, except Antarctica. Rivers are also a very important part of the Hydrological cycle (water cycle). Rivers usually start at a natural spring or a glacier melt. This is also known as the source of the river.
Introduction to the Amazon Rainforest
Home to many beautiful yet dangerous creatures, the Amazon Rainforest is the world’s largest tropical rainforest. The Amazon houses about 10% of the world’s biodiversity. More than half of the Amazon Rainforest is located in Brazil. The other 8 South American countries that have the Amazon in their borders are: Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and the French Guiana. The Amazon River is the second longest river in the world, with a length of 6,400km. More than 20% of the world’s oxygen is also produced by the Amazon Rainforest. Before roads and infrastructure was built, the Amazon River and its tributaries were passageways for reaching different areas of South America. The rivers also allowed goods to be imported and exported out of the continent.
The Amazon River System
The Amazon basin is made up of two barriers that are about 1000m high. These are the Brazilian and Guiana Shield. The Amazon River spans more than 4,000 miles and it contains nearly 1000 tributaries, some much are smaller than others. The Rio Negro is one of the largest and it holds the record for the second-largest river in the world. The Amazon River can also read 300 feet deep. The source of the Amazon River is not confirmed yet but geologists say that the Mantaro River in Peru is the Amazon River’s source. The mouth of the river is in Manaus, Brazil. Listed below are the main tributaries of the Amazon River (length descending order):
3,250 km (2,020 mi) – Madeira, Bolivia/Brazil
3,211 km (1,995 mi) – Purús, Peru/Brazil
2,820 km (1,750 mi) – Japura, Colombia/Brazil
2,639 km (1,640 mi) – Tocantins, Brazil
2,627 km (1,632 mi) – Araguaia, Brazil (tributary of Tocantins)
2,400 km (1,500 mi) – Juruá, Peru/Brazil
2,250 km (1,400 mi) – Rio Negro, Brazil/Venezuela/Colombia
1,992 km (1,238 mi) – Tapajós, Brazil
1,979 km (1,230 mi) – Xingu, Brazil
1,900 km (1,200 mi) – Ucayali River, Peru
1,749 km (1,087 mi) – Guaporé, Brazil/Bolivia (tributary of Madeira)
1,575 km (979 mi) – Içá (Putumayo), South America
1,415 km (879 mi) – Marañón, Peru
1,370 km (850 mi) – Teles Pires, Brazil (tributary of Tapajós)
1,300 km (810 mi) – Iriri, Brazil (tributary of Xingu)
1,240 km (770 mi) – Juruena, Brazil (tributary of Tapajós)
1,130 km (700 mi) – Madre de Dios, Peru/Bolivia (tributary of Madeira)
1,100 km (680 mi) – Huallaga, Peru (tributary of Marañón)
List attained from: (http://www.ascentoftheamazon.com/learning-resources/rivers-tributaries/)
The Amazon River System Issues
Key issue #1: Deforestation
The Amazon Rainforest is seen as a source of valuable hardwoods, real estate land, crops (especially soybean), highways (roads) and medicine. 3,500,500 hectares of trees are being deforested annually. The Amazon is being deforested for 5 different reasons: clearing for cattle pastures, colonization, subsistence agriculture, infrastructure improvements, commercial agriculture and logging.
Causes of Water Pollution
Mining
The Amazon Rainforest is not only known for many different animal and plant species, it is also known for minerals such as iron, nickel, tin, gold and bauxite. Mining companies have discovered this and they are invading parts of the Amazon to utilize these metals. This has a big impact on both the Amazon River and rainforest. The explosives/dynamite they use to destroy the rocks to reach the metals do not only affect the ecosystem surrounding the river/ in the river, they pollute the river directly.
Poor transportation methods/ vehicles
The people who use the Amazon River as a transport route do not have environmentally friendly & technologically advanced boats. They use the old ones that require engines made out of motor vehicle turbines to function. These motors have a high risk of accidental oil spill because they are old. When oil is spilt in the river, the oil kills the plants and animals that live in the river. This also affects the condition of the water for drinking.
Increased amount of settlers
Many environmentalists estimate that 20% of the Amazon Rainforest has been destroyed to make space for human related activities. As the years go by, many immigrants have entered Brazil and many of them are living along the Amazon River bank. These people have polluted the river by doing their everyday activities such as cleaning themselves etc.
Poor fishing methods
The fishing methods that fishermen use to capture the fishes are quite poor. Most men use nets to capture the fish and most of the time, many other creatures are captured in the nets, such as turtles. Animals caught in the nets may be endangered such as the Amazon River Dolphin. This leads to the extinction of the animals living in the Amazon River. The animals also play a role in preserving the natural state of the Amazon River. Some help animals even help clean the river.
Massive damming projects
Brazil, Peru and Colombia are all planning many damming projects to divert the river into other areas of the countries to be used for different purposes. The damming projects have reduced the amount of water flowing into the Amazon River. This can affect the people living nearby and of course, the many different creatures. Brazil was planning a ‘mega hydroelectric damming’ project in the heart of the amazon. Fortunately, this damming project was halted.
Impacts of water pollution
Pollution destroys the water plants and animals. The polluted water may also be carrying diseases. Both humans and animals need this water from the river to survive. When they drink the polluted water, they may get diseases which can eventually kill them. Most people can also get diseases by eating an infected animal. Situations like this often occur in the less developed countries such as in Africa. This is because people often drink untreated water directly from a river.
Key issue #3: Increased soil erosion
The trees’ roots anchor down the soil. When the trees are removed, the roots are not present to anchor the soil. The rain will then sweep the soil into the river and this causes the river to be muddy and full of sediment. The river then carries the soil downstream and this causes severe problems. “Siltation is a process by which water becomes dirty as a result of fine mineral particles in the water. When sediment, or silt, is suspended in water, this is an example of siltation.” (http://www.yourdictionary.com/siltation)
Siltation also raises river beds. This increases the occurrence and severity of floods. The added sediment in the river can kill the tiny fish eggs. This causes lower hatch rates. Thus, a decrease in population. As the sediment travels down the river and reaches the ocean. The sea water will become cloudy and this causes a decrease in the growth of coral reefs. This is because the corals need clear water for sunlight to enter. Sediment and planktons can cloud the water and this decreases the sunlight that reaches the zooxanthellae. This then affects the fisheries because without the corals some fish use as their habitats, the fishes will eventually be preyed, thus, the fisheries will not be able to bring any catch back to sell. Deforestation can also cause the soil from the forests to ruin the roads and highways that are in the forests or nearby. “The river current carries tons of suspended sediment all the way from the Andes and gives the river a characteristic muddy whitewater appearance. It is calculated that 106 million cubic feet of suspended sediment are swept into the ocean each day. The result from the silt deposited at the mouth of the Amazon is Majaro island, a river island about the size of Switzerland.” (http://www.answers.com/Q/Why_is_the_river_Amazon_River_water_so_dirty?#slide=1)
Cause of soil erosion
Mentioned above, deforestation is one of the main causes of soil erosion. The second cause is water erosion. Tropical rainforests are more prone to daily heavy rain. Thus, the raindrops fall directly onto the ground (spec. topsoil). The impact of the raindrop falling from the sky loosens the parts of the soil that attach to each other. Therefore, fragments of the soil detach. Because heavy rain occurs in the Amazon Rainforest, the rain water will then gather on the ground and start heading towards the river. This is known as surface water run off. The water also carries the small detached parts of the soil. Thus, bringing it along into the river. This is what makes the Amazon River murky and full of sediment.
Impacts of soil erosion
Topsoil is the upper layer of soil. “Almost half of the topsoil on the planet has been lost in the last 150 years.” (http://www.rainforestconservation.org). Deforestation destroys the trees that anchor down the soil. Once that anchor is gone, there are no roots to hold the soil down, the soil will then be washed away together with the heavy rain. This washes off the topsoil and nutrients essential for the growth of other vegetation. The Amazon Basin also receives an average of 7 feet of rain per year. As the deforested land becomes less fertile, the logging/ deforestation companies will move on to other parts of the country/world, destroy the trees there and continue to reduce the amount of soil. Soil erosion has led to pollution increase, murky streams and rivers, decrease in fish populations, increased flooding and clogged waterways. The plants that replaced the original ones, such as coffee, cotton, palm, soybean and wheat can worsen soil erosion. The fertilizers, insecticide and pesticides applied onto the soil where the farmers want to plant their crops can also be washed into the river. This pollutes the river. Sediment in the river also makes the water opaquer, thus, light cannot enter the water for the plants to survive on. The newly created crop field is not able to soak up that much water compared to the jungle trees that was once there. This causes more flooding.
Management strategies
There are many organizations helping to reduce and prevent any more deforestation from happening in the Amazon Rainforest. Here is a list of a few of these organizations:
⇒ WWF (World Wildlife Fund)
⇒ Southern Waters
⇒ Wildlife Conservation Society
The World Wildlife Fund has been working to protect the rainforests all over the globe for more than 50 years. WWF works with governments, companies, habitants of a country to promote responsible forest management practices and to protect the forested areas.
The Amazon Rainforest also has a few sponsors and activist groups. Here are a few of them:
⇒ Rainforest Action Network
⇒ Amazon Watch
⇒ Greenpeace
(http://www.wri.org/blog/2016/12/brazilian-government-announces-29-percent-rise-deforestation-2016)
The Brazilian Government has just recently announced that the deforestation rate in 2016 had an increase of 29% since 2015. As seen in the graph above, the highest deforestation rate was in 1995. Ever since then, the rates increased and decreased gradually. When 2009 came, the deforestation rates began to decrease until 2015, when it started rising slightly.
How we can help
We can start by donating to the organizations that are helping to stop deforestation. We can also try to reduce our beef, soy and oil intakes as these are the triggers of deforestation. We can also start to boycott the companies that buy imported food from Brazil. Recycling and reusing newspapers, books, cans, plastic bags and more.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Amazon Rainforest is a very important piece of land to the Earth. The Amazon is a very unique biome. Home to more than 10% of the world’s biodiversity. In Unfortunately, there is no immediate way of solving the deforestation crisis. Deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest has destroyed about 27,423 km² of trees in 2004. Over 20% of the rainforest has been cleared to make space for agriculture use. Although the rate of deforestation has been decreasing since 2004, the remaining parts of the rainforest is still in grave danger.
Therefore, we must do our part to save “the lungs of the Earth”.
Bibliography
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