Which of the planet's rainforests is the world's largest?

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The largest rainforests include a wide range of plants and creatures that have never been seen before.

 

More than half the world's plant and animal species may be found in rainforests, which cover only 2% of the planet's surface area. Rainforests, as the name implies, are also quite wet: Each year, they get an average of more than 178 cm of rain.

 

Tropical rainforests and temperate rainforests are the two broad classifications of rainforests. According to the NASA Earth Observatory, tropical rainforests are hot, lush forests found around the equator. In contrast, temperate rainforests are fewer and found near coastal areas farther north or south of the equator. We've added the greatest temperate rainforest as an honorable mention at the end of our list of the world's largest rainforests.

 

It is difficult to compare rainforest sizes because the boundaries of a single forest can cover many countries and be split up by islands or devastation. The largest and second-largest rainforests on this list are known, but the other three are based on estimates and expert opinion.

 

The rainforests of the Amazon

 

The Amazon rainforest in South America is the world's largest. According to NASA's Earth Observatory, it covers around 80% of the Amazon basin's 2.3 million square miles (6 million square kilometers) total area. At 3.8 million square miles (9.8 million square kilometers), it's larger than the United States and three times larger than any other rainforest. Nine countries in South America make up the Amazon basin.

 

WWF estimates that at least ten percent of Earth's total biodiversity—the range of species of plants, animals, and other organisms—resides in forests. Sloths, harpy eagles (Harpia harpyja), Brazil nut trees (Bertholletia excelsa), and jaguars are all included in this category (Panthera onca). The Brazilian Amazon rainforest covers over 1.2 million square miles (3.17 million square kilometers) and is the world's largest intact tract of tropical forest. These are old, undisturbed woodlands. According to data from Global Forest Watch, a non-profit that monitors forests worldwide, Brazil has lost more than 100,000 square miles (260,000 square kilometers) of forest since 2001.

 

Global Forest Watch research manager Elizabeth Goldman told Live Science that "a lot of this is attributable to agricultural growth." There will be fires to clear land, often spreading to nearby forests.

 

According to Goldman, Amazon clearing is primarily used for large-scale industrial agriculture, such as raising cattle and crops like soy. As a result of fires, the wood becomes hotter and drier, contributing to climate change. As a result, they become more flammable, resulting in a vicious cycle of destruction. The Amazon rainforest has been decimated by deforestation by 386,000 square miles (1 million square kilometers) since 1978, according to the non-profit news website Mongabay, which covers environmental research and conservation.

 

Congo River Basin

 

WWF estimates that the Congo Basin rainforest in Central Africa covers more than 780,000 square miles (2 million square kilometers), making it the world's second-largest rainforest. It covers Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). According to Global Forest Watch, the Democratic Republic of the Congo contains the world's largest primary rainforest at about 383,000 square miles (992,000 square kilometers).

 

The Congo rainforest is home to a wide variety of animals, including gorillas, forest elephants, and many others. Bonobos (Pan paniscus) and okapi (Okapia johnstoni) are two of the unique animals on the planet. Deforestation is a major hazard to the Congo Basin, mostly due to agriculture. Goldman noted that the Congo rainforest is often cleared for smaller-scale agriculture as opposed to the industrial deforestation in the Amazon, such as by subsistence farmers who grow food to sustain their families or provide local markets.

 

Soil nutrients are reduced, and the land is kept fallow for a long period before being planted again, "Goldman said. "In many cases, the forest is replanted as a secondary forest and subsequently harvested." As a result, you'll notice a fluctuating pattern of death and rebirth in certain regions. According to Mongabay, the forest is also threatened by the growth of urban areas, mining, and industrial logging.

 

3. New Guinea's rainforests

 

According to the WWF, the island of New Guinea, divided between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, is home to the world's third-largest continuous rainforest. This island is home to at least 5% of the world's plant and animal species, including tree kangaroos and crowned pigeons, found nowhere else.

 

It is, however, more difficult to rank the world's greatest rainforests after the Amazon rainforest and the Congo basin. Goldman opined that measuring countries with well-defined borders in rainforest cover is often simpler. According to statistics from Global Forest Watch, more than 123,000 square miles (318,000 square kilometers) of primary rainforest may be found in Papua New Guinea alone. According to the Australian government's Geoscience Australia website, the northern Australian woods can also be plotted as part of the New Guinea rainforest because they were originally connected before they were split by the ocean 11,700 years ago.

 

New Guinea's forests are disappearing at an alarming rate due to commercial logging and farming. Commercially valuable timber can be selectively harvested first, and then the area can be turned into industrial plantations for crops like palm oil, Mongabay reports.

 

Tropical rainforests of the Sundaland region

 

Approximately 197,000 square miles (510,000 square kilometers) is the size of the Sundaland Rainforest, according to Mongabay. Southeast Asia's Malay Peninsula and the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo make up the rainforest. Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, and Singapore are part of it. (Things get a little dizzy at this point: both the Sundaland and the New Guinea rainforests are found in Indonesia. According to Global Forest Watch, Indonesia has the third greatest primary rainforest cover of any country in the world.

 

Orangutans, Bornean rainbow toads (Ansonia latidisca), and corpse flowers (Rafflesia Arnoldi), the world's largest flower, can be found in the Sundaland jungle. Global Forest Watch shows Indonesia's primary rainforest has shrunk by more than 37,000 square miles (97,000 square kilometers) since 2001. But Goldman considers the country one of the bright spots for deforestation.

 

Goldman explained that there had been a lot of commercial oil palm cultivation or timber exploitation. In Indonesia and Malaysia, however, "primary forest loss has decreased in the last four years." According to her, since the Indonesian government was devastated by flames in 2015, the Indonesian government has been particularly aggressive in its efforts to reduce deforestation.

 

In the basin of the Mekong River.

 

According to the Mekong River Commission, the Mekong River is almost 3,000 miles long (4,900 kilometers) in Southeast Asia. According to Global Forest Watch data, Myanmar is the most wooded country in the Mekong River basin, with 51,700 square miles of primary rainforest within its boundaries.

 

According to the WWF, the Mekong River is home to more than 1,000 freshwater fish species, many of which are endangered, including the Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas). From psychedelic rock geckos (Cnemaspis psychedelics) to big cats, the rainforests around the river are home to a wide range of creatures (Panthera tigris). According to WWF research from 2015, large-scale agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation in the Greater Mekong region, particularly in producing sugar, rice, rubber, and biofuel.

 

Tongass National Forest gets an honorable mention.

 

The Tongass National Forest in Alaska is the world's largest temperate rainforest. According to the USDA, it is the smallest tropical rainforest on this list, with an area of 26,250 square miles (68,000 square kilometers) (USDA). Tropical rainforests, on the other hand, encompass a larger area and tend to be found in warmer regions, often near the coast.

 

Salmon, brown bears (Ursus arctos), black bears (Ursus americanus), and bald eagles are all found in the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). An organization dedicated to protecting birds and their habitats claims that the Tongass National Forest has been decimated by logging and is still at risk today. According to the USDA, the forest is also at risk from climate change and drought.

Reference      : https://www.livescience.com/largest-rainforests-in-the-world

Image source : https://pixabay.com/id/photos/amazon-pelabuhan-nari%c3%b1o-2373016/

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