The Amazon Rainforest 2005 By The Numbers...

400,000 The number of landless peasants in Brazil.

750 The number of tree species in a 16 sq mile slice of Amazon forest. In the same area there are also 125 species of mammals, 400 species of birds and 100 species of reptiles.

4 billion The tonnage of wood the paper industry will be consuming annually by 2020 if it keeps up its current rate of production.

5,600 The acreage of rainforest destroyed to establish one pulpwood plant, which then consumes 2,000 tons of wood every day producing the electricity needed to run the factory.

22 The percentage of Brazil's population that lives below the poverty line.

10 million The number of unemployed Brazilians, out of a labour market of 89 million.

40-50 The estimated number of years that the rainforest will survive if deforestation continues at its current rate.

2.7 million Acres of rainforest are destroyed in Brazil every year.

33 The percentage of the world's remaining rainforests that are found in Brazil.

17.3 per cent of the Amazon rainforest has been destroyed.

137 Plant and animal species become extinct every day as a result of rainforest depletion.

1 A single Amazonian tree harbours as many species of ants as the emtire British Isles.

40 The percentage of its annual income Brazil spends repaying its loans.

20 million people call the Amazon basin home, including 400 indigenous groups.

70 per cent of all logged timber ends up as unusable fragments or sawdust.

50 per cent of all the world's forests have disappeared.

1 million tons of wood are needed to produce enough charcoal to power a single Brazilian steel mill.

100 million hectares of land, or 20 per cent of the entire Amazon region, is held illegally according to the Brazilian government.