Threats

Amazon

Threats to the Amazon come not only from deforestation for agriculture, but also from dams, roads, human-induced climate change, gold mining, petroleum extraction, shipping and the unplanned growth of cities, whose expanding populations consume more and more of the Amazon River’s resources, especially fish, turtles, and illegal bush meat on a smaller scale.

A combination of infrastructure development(such as dams) and climate change could disrupt the natural signals, flooded and drought cycles, sedimentation, water quality, and habitats upon which fish,turtles, jaguars, and a myriad of other species, both aquatic and terrestrial,depend.

To prevent and mitigate the impacts of these threats, WCS tries to work at local scales (with communities in and around protected areas), at state and regional scales (working with protected areas agencies to plan and monitor their activities), and national and international scales (managing fishing and the impacts of dams from the headwaters in Peru to the estuary on the Brazilian Coast).