For those of you who are wanting to delve deeper in the mysteries of the Amazon, below is a number of articles, publications and books which may assist you. It is by no means meant to be a compreheisive or exhaustive list, but one that may help you focus on some of the major comtempory issues that face the 'lungs of the world'.

These are grouped into:

Articles and publications downloadable from the internet:

  • Rain Forest Rebel

    An article from the Smitsonian magazine, March 2007. Researchers documenting the ways of native peoples, join forces with an embattled chief to stop illegal loggers and developers from destroying the earth's most precious wilderness.
    smithsonianmag.com/people-places/amazon

  • Indigenous People Are Key to Rainforest Conservation Efforts

    In an October 2006 interview with mongabay.com, renowned ethnobotanist Dr Mark Plotkin offered insight into the difficulties facing indigenous groups in parts of the Amazon and his thoughts on conservation efforts in the region.
    news.mongabay.com/2006/1031-interview_plotkin

  • Eating up the Amazon

    In this 2006 report, Greenpeace illustrates the soya crisis through the example of two key global players: Cargill (possibly the largest private company in the world) in the Amazon and McDonald’s (the largest fast food company in the world) in Europe. It documents the path taken by soya from illegally cleared farms, sometimes with the use of slave labour, to Cargill and its competitors, through the ports, processors and meat producers of Europe, and finally into the Chicken McNuggets sold under the golden arches across the continent.
    greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/eating-up-the-amazon

    (Cargill’s response can be found here cargill.com/news/issues/issues_greenpeacereport)

  • A Future for Forests

    An Amazon case study from Greenpeace; looking at both the local and global level, this report highlights some of the drivers of deforestation in the Amazon and action that must be taken to halt deforestation and illegal logging, preserving both forests and climate.
    greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/future-for-forests

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Books for children:

  • The Shaman’s Apprentice

    1998 Lynne Cherry & Mark J. Plotkin
    For thousands of years, in the jungles of the Amazon, shamans have passed on their wisdom of the medicinal values of rain forest plants from one generation to the next. This book tells the story of a Tirio Indian boy who dreams of one day being the tribal shaman, and how he and his people learn the importance of their own knowledge about the healing properties of the rain forest.

  • The Great Kapok Tree

    1990 Lynne Cherry
    In the Amazon rain forest, a man is chopping down a great Kapok tree. Exhausted from his labours, he puts down his axe and rests. As he sleeps, the animals who live in the tree plead with him not to destroy their world.

  • Amazon Basin

    1993 Jan Reynolds: Vanishing Cultures Series
    Explore the lives of a group of Yanomama Indians, who live in the Amazon Territory of Venezuela. Follow the daily activities of a young boy whose father is a shaman, "a man of knowledge and strong spirit." These rain forest dwellers are closely linked with the ecosystem in which they live: they fish and play in the river; hunt in the jungle; and harvest plants for food, shelter, and body decorations. Clear, crisp, action-packed, full-color photographs and a brief, straightforward narrative highlight these activities.

  • A Walk in the Rainforest

    1992 Kristin Joy Pratt
    Take an adventure with XYZ the ant on an alphabetical journey through the tropical rainforest. The author and illustrator was 15 at the time and created this book out of her belief that “environmental awareness, at a very early age, is the key to preserving our world, When young children gain a knowledge and respect for nature, they in turn love and protect it.”

  • Eyewonder Rainforest

    2001 Elinor Greenwood
    Take a walk on the wild side through the mysterious rainforest. You’ll meet everything from bats and bugs to weird and wonderful plants. Peep at the monkeys and apes as they swing through the trees, and find an insect that looks just like a leaf. Full of fantastic facts and colour photographs, this is a great way for young children to learn about rainforest life.

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Other books:

  • Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice

    1993 Mark J Plotkin
    Mark Plotkin has spent much of the last decade in the rain forests tracking the shamans whose knowledge of the curative powers of plants may hold the cure to some of today’s devastating diseases. This is the fascinating account of his apprenticeships to these powerful wise men, an anthropological adventure story that also vividly clarifies what destruction of the region’s plant species may ultimately cost humanity.

  • The Burning Season

    1990 Andrew Revkin
    A Brazilian rubber tapper and self-taught environmentalist, Chico Mendes was killed in December 1988 by ranchers intent on ravaging the jungle for short-term gain. Andrew Revkin spent four months in Brazil researching this remarkable story, and he gained unprecedented access to many of those closest to Mendes. But this is more than a biography of Chico Mendes – it is also a celebration of the amazing beauty of the rain forest and an eloquent plea for its preservation.

  • The Last Forest: The Amazon In The Age of Globalisation

    2007 Mark London & Brian Kelly
    With its immense landmass and the richest diversity of plant and animal species on earth, the Amazon has always struck its explorers and would be exploiters as infinite and largely impenetrable. Today, as developers and environmentalists clash over the region’s future, the seemingly endless forest is fast disappearing in fires, mineral extraction, rogue logging and encroaching urban sprawl.

    Through interviews with government ministers and environmental crusaders, millionaire ranchers and disenfranchised slum dwellers, the authors trace the region’s transformation. Again and again they collide with the same fundamental question: is it too late to strike a balance between economic sustenance for the 21 million Brazilians who live there and protection for the world’s last great forest?

  • Margaret Mee’s Amazon: Diaries of An Artist Explorer

    2004 The Estate of the late Margaret Mee
    For 32 years the artist Margaret Mee was enchanted by and lured back again and again to the massive, unpredictable and fertile rainforests of the Amazonas. Her initial objective to search out and illustrate the glorious flora of the Amazon basin was later combined with a growing concern at the commercial plunder of the great forests. Her first expedition to Amazonas was in 1956 and it was then that she began to keep the diaries that, along with her paintings, make up this book.

    Although plant hunting always came first, other events often took over. A small dug-out canoe could become a waterlogged if not dangerous place to be; rapids had to be got through; recalcitrant boatmen were gently or sternly coerced; drunken prospectors were held off with a revolver. It is ironic that this enthusiastic lover of the Amazon, who had braved so many hazardous and alarming situations, was killed in a car crash in England. Today, her legacy is incalculable.

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