Sustaining Amazonia: Grassroots Action for Productive Conservation (Issues in Environmental Politics)

In the wealth of literature on Brazilian Amazonian, little has been written to show how communities affected by hostile commercial forces have reacted. Previous studies have portrayed small producers either as passive victims or as active destroyers of the forest and its resources. This timely study of rubber-tappers, fisherpeople and small farmers on the Transamazon highway shows that, on the contrary, they have fought back to become active defenders of their environment and the most important providers of solutions to the challenge of sustainable development. "Sustaining Amazonia" describes the struggle for survival of traditional populations whose natural resources and livelihoods have been threatened over the past three decades. In collaborating with development institutions to devise new strategies of 'productive conservation', they are a critical element in laying the foundations which will facilitate the conservation of rainforest resources for their sustainable use by present and future generations. Written in a jargon-free style, the book will appeal to those with an interest in rainforest conservation, environmental management, grassroots movements, community participation and development policy in the Amazon.