Brazil will host a regional summit on Tuesday and Wednesday in Belem with planetary stakes, as leaders of the countries that share the Amazon seek a roadmap to save the world's biggest rainforest. VIDEOGRAPHIC
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00:10 >> Lying within the Amazon basin,
00:12 the Amazon forest occupies 5.5 million square kilometers
00:17 and reaches out across a vast area
00:19 of Latin America into nine countries.
00:21 The largest tropical forest in the world,
00:24 it provides via the Amazon and its tributaries 20%
00:28 of the world's unfrozen fresh water.
00:31 2.1 million square kilometers are classified
00:34 as protected zones.
00:36 The Amazon forest is home
00:37 to a biodiversity sanctuary unique in the world.
00:40 One quarter of the earth's species live there.
00:43 30,000 types of plant, 2,500 fish, 1,500 birds,
00:50 500 mammals, as well as 550 species of reptile
00:56 and 2.5 million insects.
01:00 The forest acts as a carbon sink, absorbing more CO2
01:04 than it emits while releasing oxygen.
01:06 It stocks 90 to 140 billion tons of CO2.
01:10 This helps regulate worldwide global warming.
01:14 The forest has been inhabited for at least 11,000 years
01:17 and today is home to 34 million people,
01:20 including 3 million Indians from 420 tribes.
01:24 Almost 20% of the Amazon forest has disappeared
01:28 in the last 50 years.
01:30 The main causes of deforestation are soya and livestock farming,
01:34 the construction of hydroelectric dams and roads,
01:39 the mining industry, and forest fires.
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