Aerial view of the Amazon River in Brazil

© Curioso.Photography/Shutterstoc

The rivers run through us. World Rivers Day

On World Rivers Day, we honour what may be thought of as the queen of them all – the Amazon, which flows more than 4,000 miles mostly through the South American countries of Peru and Brazil. The Amazon discharges a whopping 58 million gallons of freshwater into the ocean every second, enough to fill 83 Olympic-sized swimming pools, far more water than any other river in the world. It accounts for 20% of all freshwater that flows into the world’s seas and oceans. It’s also the vital heart of the largest and most diverse rainforest in the world – the Amazon RainForest. It is home to a third of the world’s animal species and its trees and plants pull billions of tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year, making it one of the Earth’s best defenses against climate change.