1. La Selva Amazónica

The Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical forest on Earth covering huge regions of Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru. If Amazonia were a country, it’d be the ninth largest in the world. So of course, what better way to start this list than on how to say the Amazon rainforest itself in Spanish? It’s actually more complicated than you might imagine. To refer to the region we call the Amazon you would say la Amazonía, with or without the accent on the final ‘i’. Otherwise, if you want to be more specific and refer to the actual forest, the Amazon rainforest, you would say la selva Amazónica. To describe an object or thing that is from the Amazons, or Amazonian in nature, you would say that it is amazónico.

2. La Deforestacíon

Deforestation, the destruction of trees, in Spanish is quite easy and is similar to its English counterpart. It is deforestacíon with an emphasis on the ending “i”. Another way to say deforestation would be la destrucción del los árboles, which means “the destruction of the trees”. In the past 40 years, close to 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest has been cut down, causing loss of habitat for species and accelerating the effects of climate change.

3. La Minería de Oro

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining is one of the most destructive human activities in the Amazon rainforest. In addition to driving deforestation, this form of gold mining is responsible for the largest source of mercury released into the environment. To discuss this in Spanish you would say la minería de oro, where minería means mining and oro means gold.

4. La Biodiversidad

The Amazon Rainforest is rich with an abundance of creatures and as such we would say that it has a high level of biodiversity. On average, a new species is discovered in the Amazon every 3 days. Biodiversity in Spanish is a feminine noun and would be pronounced as la biodiversidad.

5. Cambio Climático

Climate change and the Amazon Rainforest are closely linked, and the destruction of this precious forest can have negative impacts on our Earth such as accelerating the effects of global warming. Forests, such as the Amazon, are our best natural defense against climate change. When a tree is cut down, not only does it release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere but there is also one less tree to absorb the carbon dioxide released by human activity. Climate change in Spanish would be pronounced as cambio climático and global warming as calentamiento global.