The Numbers:

The Amazon rainforest is really, really big.

Indeed, it’s so big that it can be seen from outer space.

All the dark green land in this image is the Amazon rainforest:

The Amazon rainforest contains:

• 5.5 million square kilometres (2.1 million square miles) of land

• 16,000 tree species

• 390 billion individual trees.

Those are huge numbers.

However, the closer you look, the more you realise that the speed of deforestation is a critical emergency.

In 1998, NASA estimated that by 2100, just 80 years from now, ALL of the world's rainforests will have been cut down, exacerbating climate change, and eliminating the majority of the world’s plant and animal species.

In 2017, Global Forest Watch reported that one football pitch of trees is being lost every second, which is more than the combined size of England and Wales - every year.

The Focus:

Buy The Amazon Ltd (BTA) is a charitable fund-raising company which has been established to protect the Amazon rainforest by:

1. Purchasing the legal freehold ownership of parcels of virgin Amazon rainforest, to protect its bio-diversity and indigenous communities, for the benefit of present and future generations of humanity.

2. Give charitable donations to the rainforest charities which are already doing good work on the ground in the Amazon basin, but which require more funding.

3. Educate people about the urgent necessity of protecting all of the world’s rainforests.