LIVING AMAZON REPORT 2022

The Amazon biome is facing a critical situation due to deforestation, degradation, and climate change, which threaten its role in global climate regulation and its immense biodiversity. Key drivers include cattle ranching, mechanized agriculture, illegal logging, and unsustainable infrastructure projects like dams. The report emphasizes the vital role of indigenous territories and protected areas in maintaining resilience and proposes an integrated landscape management approach, the protection of free-flowing rivers, and the transition to a sustainable bioeconomy to avoid an ecological tipping point.

• The Amazon biome is at risk of reaching an ecological tipping point if an additional 5 percent of forest is lost, which could lead to a shift toward heavily degraded ecosystems.
• Approximately 17 percent of Amazon forests have been converted to other uses, and another 17 percent have been degraded.
• Cattle ranching, mechanized agriculture, and land speculation are the primary drivers of deforestation in the region.
• The Amazon stores between 150 and 200 billion tons of carbon in its soils and vegetation, making its preservation essential for meeting the global climate goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
• Infrastructure development, particularly roads and dams, causes significant environmental damage; 45 percent of 75 analyzed road projects in the region were found to have costs exceeding their benefits, totaling US$7.6 billion in economic losses.
• Informal and illegal gold mining is a major source of mercury pollution, with Amazonian countries accounting for more than 75 percent of total mercury emissions from South America.
• Protected areas and indigenous territories are critical for conservation, but they face threats from 'PADDD' events (protected area downgrading, downsizing, and degazettement).
• Indigenous territories are more effective at conserving biodiversity and maintaining carbon stocks than unprotected areas, and they show lower average levels of deforestation.
• River connectivity is being severely disrupted by dams; preliminary results indicate that 21% of long rivers (501-1000 km) and 37% of very long rivers (over 1000 km) are no longer free-flowing.
• Climate change is intensifying extreme weather events; floods that occurred every 20 years in the first half of the 20th century now occur every four years.

APA

Vergara, A., Arias, M., Gachet, B., Naranjo, L. G., Román, L., Surkin, J., & Tamayo, V. (2022). LIVING AMAZON REPORT 2022. WWF International. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/610/1w8fz5mktn_lar__ingles_23_dic_2022.pdf

Chicago

Vergara, Analiz, Melissa Arias, Bernardo Gachet, Luis Germán Naranjo, Luis Román, Jordi Surkin, and Valeria Tamayo. LIVING AMAZON REPORT 2022. WWF International, 2022. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/610/1w8fz5mktn_lar__ingles_23_dic_2022.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Vergara |first1=Analiz |last2=Arias |first2=Melissa |last3=Gachet |first3=Bernardo |last4=Naranjo |first4=Luis Germán |last5=Román |first5=Luis |last6=Surkin |first6=Jordi |last7=Tamayo |first7=Valeria |title=LIVING AMAZON REPORT 2022 |publisher=WWF International |date=November 2022 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/610/1w8fz5mktn_lar__ingles_23_dic_2022.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{vergara2022living, author = {Vergara, Analiz and Arias, Melissa and Gachet, Bernardo and Naranjo, Luis Germán and Román, Luis and Surkin, Jordi and Tamayo, Valeria}, title = {{LIVING AMAZON REPORT 2022}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2022}, month = nov, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/610/1w8fz5mktn_lar__ingles_23_dic_2022.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }