A remnant of rainforest stands in fields cleared for agriculture, near the Tapajós River, Brazilian Amazon.

A stretch of rainforest 90 kilometers southwest of Macapá, Amapá, Brazilian Amazon. Nearly 90 percent of Amapá state is rainforest, including the Tumucumaque National Park, the world’s largest tropical forest park.

Carved from the rainforest, the Morro do Filipe Mine, near Munguba, in Amapá, Brazilian Amazon, extracts kaolin, used in the paper industry. In August, President Michel Temer issued a decree allowing mining across a formerly protected area of Amapá that was approximately the size of Switzerland. Although the decree was later revoked, there are concerns that protection may again be lifted.

A logging truck carries eucalyptus trees cleared from a plantation beside virgin rainforest, near Porto de Moz, Brazilian Amazon. A new hybrid variety of eucalyptus that takes only seven years to grow from seed to harvest was introduced to Brazil in the mid-1990s.

Eucalyptus logs, harvested from plantations on land cleared from rainforest in the Brazilian Amazon, lie stacked in Macapá harbor.

An illegal gold mine, about 160 kilometers north of Macapá, Amapá, Brazilian Amazon. Mercury, a poisonous by-product of gold extraction, pollutes local water and is found in dangerous levels in fish hundreds of kilometers from the source.

Zamapa iron ore strip mine, just 30 kilometers from the Tumucumaque National Park in Amapá, Brazilian Amazon. In August, President Michel Temer issued a decree allowing mining across a formerly protected area of Amapá that was approximately the size of Switzerland. Although the decree was later revoked, there are concerns that protection may again be lifted.

Dead trees from forests flooded by construction of a dam on the Araguaia River, Amapá, Brazilian Amazon. The dam, built to generate hydroelectric power, inundated hundreds of square kilometers of forest.

Residencial Salvação, a public housing project for 15,000 people, built on land cleared from the rainforest on the edge of the city of Santarém, Pará. Santarém, the financial and economic center of the western part of the state, has undergone sharp population growth since 2000.

Scarlet ibises fly above flooded lowlands, near Bom Amigo, Amapá, Brazilian Amazon.

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