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From the pre-Columbian era to the present, native Amazonians have shaped the land around them, emphasizing utilization, conservation, and sustainability. These priorities stand in stark contrast to colonial and contemporary exploitation of Amazonia by outside interests. With essays from environmental scientists, botanists, and anthropologists, this volume explores the various effects of human development on Amazonia. The contributors argue that by protecting and drawing on local knowledge and values, further environmental ruin can be avoided.

About the Authors

The late Darrell Addison Posey was director of the Traditional Resource Rights Programme, Oxford Centre for the Environment, Ethics, and Society and of the University of Oxford Centre for Brazilian Studies. He is the author of several books, including Beyond Intellectual Property: Toward Traditional Resource Rights for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities and Indigenous Knowledge and Ethics: A Darrell Posey Reader.

Michael J. Balick is vice president for Research and Training, and Director, and Philecology Curator at the Institute of Economic Botany, The New York Botanical Garden. He is the author or editor of 14 books, including Plants, People, and Culture: The Science of Ethnobotany (with Paul Alan Cox); Useful Palms of the World(with Hans T. Beck); and The Subsidy from Nature: Palm Forests, Peasantry, and Development on an Amazon Frontier (with Anthony B. Anderson and Peter H. May)