The Amazon Rainforest is so large and filled with life, that its defenders aren’t sure exactly what they are protecting from harm. "The wealth of biodiversity is so immense, we cannot even estimate the amount we don't know," says Cláudio C. Maretti, Brazil-based director for conservation for the World Wildlife Fund. "Every new expedition you do to the Amazon, you might find one new species of fish. Every other, you might find some new bird or frog."

The Amazon Rainforest stretches across nine countries and covers just as much land as the continental United States. It is considered the world's richest and most varied natural habitat, with several million species of insects, plants, birds and fish calling it home. It also plays an important role in regulating Earth's temperature as its dense vegetation absorbs carbon dioxide and releases oxygen into the air.

But this wonderful land and habitat has been reducing in size for the last 40 years, almost 20% of the forest is gone. "We have been deforesting at enormous rates," Maretti says. The chief drivers of this deforestation are large-scale business interests involved in logging, mining, agriculture and, especially, cattle ranching. Some of this activity is sanctioned by the government; much of it is not. Greenpeace estimates as much as 80 percent of the logging is illegal.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations estimates that 50,000 square miles of forest, more than three times the size of Switzerland, are lost each year because of clearing and degradation. Majority of this clearing and degradation occurs in the more tropical areas of South America, Africa and Southeast Asia. 

Cambodia lost nearly 30% of its primary forests from 2000 to 2005, according to FAO. Vietnam lost close to 55% of its primary forests. And Nigeria lost nearly 56% of its primary forests over the same period, the worst rate of forest loss in the world, according to FAO.

The destruction of the Earth's oldest and richest forests is not a new phenomenon, but the rate of destruction has increased in recent decades. "Worldwide, one-half of all forests we've lost in the last 10,000 years has occurred in the last 80 years. Half of that was destroyed in the last 30 years," says Scott Paul, Forest Campaign Coordinator for Greenpeace.

Paul stated that the chief driver of forest destruction is the buying and selling of forest products and farm products in the international market, not to meet local needs. "The timber market, and also for agriculture, mining: When it plugs into the international economic system, that's when you've got to watch it," he says.

Brazil’s government has most recently increased their efforts in slowing the deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest. Last October, Brazil said the rate of deforestation plunged 41 percent because of the enforcement of environmental laws.

The World Wildlife Fund's Maretti is hopeful that Brazil, with international help, will be able to protect even more of the Amazon, an area he considers among the most vital natural habitats in the world.  Maretti stated that “we certainly need support from abroad. I don't believe Brazil can do this job alone."

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/07/11/habitatloss.overview/index.html

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