World Cultures 11

Unit Latin America

Name:________________________
Block:_______
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.
Beautiful is the first word that comes to my mind when I see this pitcher of the green trees and the curving river
that is flowing in the middle.
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

- Venezuela

Peru

- Guyana

Ecuador

- 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?
- Provide habitat for vast animals and plants
- They supply oxygen
-

Protect our watersheds

- Provide timber

4. What makes rainforests special?

Rainfall is abundant and the temperature is always warm. They help the level of carbon dioxide and greenhouse
gases lower
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 of forest are lost each year
b. Amazon 17% of the Amazons forest cover has been lost in the last half century.
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. People depend on forests. Millions of people use them for hunting, gathering, and medicine.
Forest give off some of the most important products in human lives.
b. The forest are like a carbon skin because they soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Tropical forests alone hold more than 210 gigatons of carbon.
c. Unique biodiversity 80% of the worlds known plant and animal species live in forest. In a
rainforests a square kilometer of forest can be home for more than 1,000 species.
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

Sloth

Sloths are slow moving animals that will spend most of their lifes in a tree of a
Rain forest. Sloths need to sleep a lot and are very slow making it hard for them

Jaguar

to survive without the trees of the rain forest

Jaguars are strong swimmers and climbers that need tropical rainforest. Jaguars

Poison dart frog

are being hunted and are dying because of the loss of habitat.
Most frogs use camouflage to protect them selfs but the Poison dart frog uses

poison to kill or hurt anything that is trying to harm the frog.

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?
9. To what extent have they had contact with outsiders? Explain your response.
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.

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.

12. Do you think most Americans agree with the viewpoint expressed by the woman in the video clip? Explain.

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
Mining/Drilling
Crime

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?

15. How did the regions emphasis on environmental protection influence the stadium project?