Unravelling Earth's Verdant Enigma

The Amazon's intricate ecosystems are facing growing threats from climate change and deforestation. The Rolex and National Geographic Perpetual Planet Amazon Expedition combines science, exploration and local stewardship to uncover its secrets and protect its future.

- by Asaph Low

Representing over half of the entire area of remaining rainforests on Earth, the Amazon is the sprawling green ocean of life, breathing as the literal and figurative lungs of our planet. Beneath its towering canopy lies an intricate network and of rivers, lakes and wetlands meandering and webbing like dendritic blood vessels throughout the South American continent, and nourishing an ecosystem of unimaginable biodiversity. Explorers, scientists and conservationists have made expeditions into this enigmatic wilderness for decades, yet the Amazon still guards its secrets closely. As climate change, deforestation and pollution continue to put this vital region under threat, understanding the inner details of how the Amazon works is becoming more urgent than ever. In this rarefied field of discovery and preservation, the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative and the National Geographic Society have joined hands.The landmark Rolex and National Geographic Perpetual Planet Amazon Expedition was launched to profoundly probe into the Amazon’s secrets, and to raise awareness of its importance in the Earth’s ecosystem. It has been a gargantuan and ambitious endeavour, bringing together scientists, explorers and local communities for more than two years with one common goal: studying and safeguarding the Amazon for the future of the Earth, and that of humanity itself.

THE ROLEX PERPETUAL PLANET INITIATIVE: A LEGACY OF EXPLORATION