The Amazon is the world's largest and densest rainforest. The Amazon Basin is the planet's largest body of fresh water, with 1,100 tributaries
Some 170 Indian cultural groups live in the Amazon
The rainforest contains an estimated one-fifth of all the planet's bird and plant species
It is home to more butterflies than anywhere else in the world
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It is recognised as the world's greatest reserve of life, with the greatest biological accumulation of carbon on earth, and is known as the "lungs of the world".
Many of the Amazon's 1,300 plants have acknowledged medicinal value