This tributary of the Amazon, the sixth longest river in the Americas, has the highest number of bends and meanders in the world. From the Peruvian Andes, it flows 3,283 km towards Brazil, from south to north. In the heart of the sweltering jungle, it winds slowly and sinuously through a flooded forest – one of the wettest and warmest places on Earth – which is home to an extraordinary biodiversity per square meter…

This river literally winds its way through the heart of the Amazon jungle, at the foot of the Andes and south of the great Amazon River. Its forest basin contains almost 390 billion trees, with an estimated 16,000 species, or 13% of the planet’s trees. There are 50 times as many trees in the Amazon rainforest as there are people on the planet. And the massif has existed for at least 55 million years.

But the rate at which it is disappearing is alarming.
The world’s largest reservoir of biodiversity is threatened by global warming, gold mining and deforestation: since 1970, 18% to 20% of the forest has disappeared.

Juruá has a huge flood plain and, as a result of the draught and flood regimes of the Amazonian rivers, gives rise to thousands of lakes every year on both sides of its banks. Because of this phenomenon, the depth of the river varies between 12 and 15 metres. Its main environmental problem is illegal grazing and logging.

Why do rivers like the Juruá twist so much more than other rivers? It flows over relatively flat terrain, allowing the water to change course more easily than on other types of terrain. But rivers carrying large quantities of sediment meander more, and have more cuts and backwaters than those carrying less sediment. The Rio Jurua carries a great deal of soil.

Recognized as a Ramsar protected site covering 2.1 million hectares, the natural basin of the Jurua River is divided into three protected areas: the Uacari Reserve, the Baixo Rio Juruá Extractive Reserve and the Alto Rio Juruá. Its shores are also home to the indigenous Dení land.

Against a backdrop of unprecedented heatwaves, the state of Amazonas suffered an unprecedented drought in autumn 2023. Navigation was disrupted on 90% of its waterways, including the Jurua, and the drought was accompanied by massive forest fires. Over the past 20 years, data show that the number of fires in the region has increased considerably.

The hottest and densest rainforest on the planet is also changing. No biotope on the planet is immune to the accelerating pace of change in our geosystem.