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.
The word I am choosing is dense. I chose the word dense because I cannot see the jungle floor. There are many
trees and plants in the Amazon that make it a very very dense forest.
2. Click on Overview and review the information, including the visuals. List the 8 nations that the
Amazon rainforest is located in.
- Brazil
-

Bolivia

Peru

Ecuador

Colombia

Venezuela

Guyana

Suriname

French Guiana, an overseas territory of France

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
- Local Soil
-

Rainfall

- Prevailing Temperatures

4. What makes rainforests special?

The abundance of water 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 of forest are lost each year.
b. Amazon Lost 17% of its forest cover 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 for hunting, gathering and medicine. Rubber and rattan and small-scale
agriculture all important things that come with forests.
b. Forest trees and plants soak up carbon dioxide and use it to grow.
c. 80% of the worlds known terrestrial plant and animal species come from the forest.

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
Orangutan
They are the largest arboreal mammal, they share 96.4% of their genes with us
and are highly intelligent.
Tree Kangaroo
Very rare and decreasing in number every year due to deforestation and hunting.
Gorillas
Gorillas experience sadness and laughter and share 98.3% of their genes with us.
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?
About 1 million, they are divided into over 400 tribes.
9. To what extent have they had contact with
outsiders? Explain your response.
Many have had contact for over 500 years but
some of them have had no outside contact at all,
which is astounding.
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.
My daily life
I go to school
I go to Giant to buy food
My dad uses a rifle to hunt
I have a garden

Daily life of an Amazon Indian

Do not go to school
Hunt and gather and grow their own foods
Use a bow and arrow, spears or blowguns.
Plant their own gardens also

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.
Indian tribes whose lands are respected are successful. In Brazil Indians have no communal land ownership
rights, in Peru and Colombia many villages secured land title long ago, governments and companies regularly
ride rough-shod over their rights.
12. Do you think most Americans agree with the viewpoint expressed by the woman in the video clip? Explain.
No, I think that most Americans believe that we should deforest everything and industrialize and modernize
everything. I think that Americans believe that tribes of native people need to modernize and stop living in
the past. I believe that the woman is right, though. Everyone should respect others cultures.
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 of the Amazon has increased
Prevents new licenses to clear primary

Mining/Drilling

Crime

by 1/3 in the past year. Every minute, nearly

forests. Set a limit to how much forest can

50 football fields of forest are destroyed.

Ancient burial grounds are being mined and

be cleared annually.
Make it illegal to mine or drill on an ancient

dug up for resources. Many tribes are

burial ground.

furious.
African elephant numbers could fall by 1/5

Set limits to how many elephants can be

in the next year due to illegal poaching. The

poached each year or, better yet just make it

worlds largest land mammal could soon be

illegal. Crack down on the criminals and

extinct.

make more of an effort to stop it.

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? Brazil was struggling to make its city look good and presentable for the 2014 World Cup.
The city only had a few months to prepare, they had to have much of the work done before the rainy season
hits in December.

15. How did the regions emphasis on environmental protection influence the stadium project?
They hoped that the stadium will leave an everlasting impression for improvements on the city, like more
reliable internet, electricity and transportation.