Title: Through Amazonian eyes : the human ecology of Amazonian populations /
Authors: Moran, Emilio F.
Publisher: University of Iowa Press,
Year: 1993
Subjects: Human ecology Amazon River Region; Indians of South America Amazon River Region.; Human ecology Brazil; Nature Effect of human beings on Amazon River Region
Abstract: In the final years of the twentieth century we live with omnipresent worries. Will the Amazonian forests survive current deforestation trends? Will Amazonia's native populations survive the spread of diseases and the expropriation of traditional territories? Will the promise of biotechnology ever be fulfilled, given the genetic losses we are experiencing? Will scientists find new chemical substances in the forests of Amazonia to cure diseases heretofore incurable or yet unknown? Will we learn to use, rather than thoughtlessly destroy, the thousands of tropical species that we now consider without value? Will we invest in agronomic research to find ways to achieve sustainable cultivation in the humid tropics? In June 1992, at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the world was finally ready to ask these questions.
Contents: 1. Amazonia: People and Environment -- 2. Blackwater Ecosystems -- 3. Upland Forests -- 4. Floodplains -- 5. Savannas -- 6. Human Ecology as a Critique of Development.