Analyze the importance of the Amazon rain forest globally: What price is the globe willing to pay for conservation?

The Amazon rain forest stretches across 5.5 million square kilometers - an area far larger than the EU. All figures describing some aspect of the Amazon convey the region's unique status on the planet:

The enormous Amazon River, with all its tributaries, contains 20 per cent of the world's flowing freshwater.

Though the Amazon covers only four per cent of the earth's surface, it contains a third of all known terrestrial plant, animal and insect species.

The forest produces more than 50 per cent of all the rain that falls in the Amazon region, and it affects rainfall patterns far outside South America.

The Amazon rain forest contains 10 per cent of all biomass on Earth. The forest thus stores vast amounts of carbon that is released into the atmosphere as deforestation takes place. These releases contribute to global warming.