The earth's ecosystems provide many services for which the value is just beginning to be calculated, e.g., atmospheric gas regulation, protection of the earth's water sources, pollination of economically important plants, etc. Another of these services, the cultural and recreational use of nature, is so valuable that Pimentel et al. The value of undisturbed nature, like any other commodity, continues to rise as it becomes more and more scarce. Therefore, undisturbed areas such as found in central French Guiana will increase in value as tropical forests in other areas are depleted. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the forests of central French Guiana are rich in species of plants and animals, that they have great ecotourism potential, and that they should be protected in a pristine state in order to promote ecotourism which will in turn generate the income needed to justify their conservation.
People can value wildlife for commercial, recreational, scientific, esthetic, or spiritual reasons.
But people must use and therefore value wildlife, otherwise wildlife will be lost. We argue that the esthetic value and ecosystem services provided by tropical wildlife are so valuable that to fail to preserve large tracts of tropical ecosystems may be contrary to sound economics. Fishing is limited to sporadic take of aimara from larger streams such as the Saint-Eloi River. The main vegetation of the region is lowland moist forest dominated by trees of Burseraceae, Sapotaceae, Lecythidaceae, Mimosaceae, Caesalpiniaceae, Rubiaceae, Moraceae, Chrysobalanaceae, Meliaceae, and Bombacaceae. Eichler reach 55 to 65 meters in height.