ABSTRACT

The Amazon region is vast, encompassing an area of approximately 7 million square kilometres, of which 5.5 million square kilometres is covered by rainforest. The region is divided between nine countries (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, French Guyana, Peru, Venezuela and Suriname), with Brazil having the largest share of the forest (60 per cent) followed by Peru (13 per cent) and Columbia (10 per cent). Containing over half of the world’s remaining rainforest, the region is a globally significant biodiversity hotspot and, surprisingly, relatively untouched by tourism. The forest is thought to have first emerged during the Eocene era about 55 million years ago and, despite significant fluctuations in global temperatures since that time, the forest has managed to survive, providing a location for the evolution of a wide range of species (Morley, 2000).