World Cultures 11

Unit Latin America

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The Amazon Rainforest Internet Assignment

Purpose: This assignments goal is to expose you to basic facts about the Amazon rainforest as well as
introduce you to some of the wildlife and people that live inside it. You will also understand how the rainforest
affects the nations and people of South America and how it is facing unique challenges in the modern world.
Part I (Overview): Use www.worldwildlife.org/places/amazon and follow the directions carefully to
complete this assignment.
1. Review the photograph. Choose one descriptive word (adjective) that comes to mind and explain how it
relates to the image.
Green. This word relates to the image because the picture shows a lot of tree tops and the picture consists of
mostly green. It seems like there is a lot of plant life here in the amazon.
2. Click on Overview and review the information, including the visuals. List the 8 nations that the
Amazon rainforest is located in.
- Brazil
- Colombia
-

Bolivia

Peru

Ecuador

- Venezuela
- Guyana
- Suriname

3. Click on Forest Habitat and review the information there, including the visuals. A forest can vary based
on several factors. What are these four factors?
- latitude
- rainfall
-

local soil

- prevailing temperatures

4. What makes rainforests special?

Rainfall is abundant and temperatures are always warm.
5. Worldwide, how quickly is deforestation occurring? How quickly is it occurring in the Amazon? Use
statistics from the reading to explain your answer.
a. Worldwide 46-58 million square miles are lost every year
b. Amazon lost at least 17% in the last half century from human activity.
6. Scroll down to the Why They Matter section. Scroll through the three images and review the captions.
List and explain why rainforests matter.
a. Millions of people rely on rainforests for hunting, gathering, and medicine. These forests provide
all of us with things like food, wood, medicine, fresh water and the air we breathe.
b. Forest trees and other plants soak up a crazy amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and
store it away.
c. 80% of known animal and plant species can be found in forests. Also, rainforests house more
animal species than any other habitat.
7. Return to the main page (www.worldwildlife.org/places/amazon) and scroll down to the Species section.
Choose three animals found in the Amazon and describe them in the chart.
Animal
Description

Animal
Giant Panda

Description
This animal is extinct with less than 1600 left in the wild. They have a black and
white coat and are the rarest in the bear family. They are found mainly in bamboo
forests.

Red Panda

This animal is just a little bit bigger than a regular house cat but has a bear like
body. These are very skillful and acrobatic animals. About 50% are located in the
Himalayas and for the most part stay in trees.

Tiger

The tiger is the biggest Asian big cat and hunt on their own. Male tigers can vary
anywhere from 310 to 660 pounds. With all the habitation loss they are forced to
compete with humans for space.

Part II (Native Peoples): Use www.survivalinternational.org/about/amazontribes to learn about the native

peoples of the Amazon rainforest.
8. How many people live in the Amazon rainforest, and how are they organized?
There are about 1 million people that live here and they are split into 400 tribes.
9. To what extent have they had contact with outsiders? Explain your response.
Most have had contact with the outside world for the past 500 years. But the other uncontacted tribes have
had no contact at all.
10. Create a t-chart that compares and contrasts your daily life with that of the people of the Amazon. Include
at least four points of comparison.
Compare
Contrast
Grow vegetables in the backyard
Live by rivers
Hunt animals and eat them
Use plant based poisons to stun the fish
Access to healthcare and education.
Rely only on hunting and gathering

11. Why are land rights so important to the Amazon tribes? Read the text and watch the video clip in the Land
= Life section to answer this question.
Land rights are so important because it is what these people rely on to live. Some sections dont have any types
of rights. The people in these areas are worried because they use their land for everything. Without their land
they wouldnt have any place to live nor any food.

12. Do you think most Americans agree with the viewpoint expressed by the woman in the video clip? Explain.
The woman in the video was talking about how every group is equal and everyone must respect how others
live. I would say most Americans would agree with her because we are also taught to respect everyones
differences and accept people for who they are.

Part III (Current Challenges): Use www.theguardian.com/environment/amazon-rainforest to research

some of the current challenges facing the Amazon rainforest. Please be mature in handling photographs of
native people, as their dress is quite different from ours!
13. Choose articles that interest you about each of the topics in the chart. Read them and complete the chart.
Challenge
Impact (2 sentences)
Possible Solutions (2 sentences)
Deforestation
Deforestation numbers are the lowest they
The best solution would be to strictly
have been in a long time. They are down

enforce this new law against deforestation.

about 18% and this is having a great impact

If this law were enforced a little more the

on the Amazon.

numbers would drop even more and they

can continue in the right direction.

Mining/Drilling

There is a lot of illegal mining going on in

There isnt much they can do to stop the

Venezuela. This is having a bad impact on

mining because its already illegal. The only

the people because it is causing malaria to

thing I can think to do is hire a few more

spread very rapidly. Malaria is one of the

officials to watch over and keep an eye out

most common diseases especially when

for people doing this. The more people

there is a lot of gold and diamond mining.

caught will cause less people doing it and

less spread of malaria.

Crime

Along with all the illegal mining occurring,

The only solution would be very similar to

another big crime is the selling of timber

the topic beforehand. The only solution that

from forests that are already hurting. People

would have any effect would be to have

are taking it from some of the poorest

people monitor the sales and whats leaving

forests and selling it some of the richest

the country or watching for people taking

people.

the timber.

14. Go to edition.cnn.com/2013/07/25/sport/football/football-brazil-world-cup-manaus/index.html and

review the article there. What challenges did the rainforest pose for Brazil in its efforts to prepare for the
2014 World Cup?
They faced many challenges in the preparation of the world cup. The biggest problem was they didnt know
if they would be able to finish the stadium in time. The problem that the rainforest brought was it brought a
lot of rain in December. This would make construction that much harder. This made the people determined
to finish by December.
15. How did the regions emphasis on environmental protection influence the stadium project?
This influenced the stadium project because there were certain areas they couldnt work. They werent
allowed to destroy land for the stadium in certain areas. This obviously hurt because they would have loved
to have more land or less weather influence from the forests.