Floods of Fortune: Ecology and Economy Along the Amazon

by Michael Goulding, Nigel Smith, Dennis Mahar

Overview

As the depredation of the planet's greatest storehouse of biodiversity-the Amazon region-continues apace, it is vitally important to understand the implications of the immense devastation the area has undergone. Describing the stunning diversity of plant an animal life found in and along the rivers, and showing how this wealth is being plundered, Floods of Fortune offers the first holistic view of the conservation drama unfolding in the Amazonian floodplain. Enriched with nearly 100 beautiful and arrested color photographs as well as an investigation of the cultural history of the region's human habitation, the book helps readers comprehend the complex environmental and social problems associated with Amazonian development and offers solutions that reconcile development with conservation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231104210
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	08/15/2000
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1310L (what's this?)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Michael Goulding is a senior scientist at the Rainforest Alliance, based in New York City.

Nigel J. H. Smith is professor of geography at the University of Florida.

Dennis J. Mahar is the World Bank's Resident Representative in Brazil.

What People are Saying About This

Thomas Lovejoy

A very important book that provides the first real overview of the complexity and critical state of the Amazon floodplain.

— Thomas Lovejoy, Smithsonian Institute

Richard Evans Schultes

More than a masterpiece. It has been sorely needed for years and is now prsented ina tone appropriate not only for readers versed in the sciences but for the educated public.

— Richard Evans Schultes, Harvard University

Editorial Reviews

Looks at the development and conservation of the Amazonian floodplain, examining aspects such as people, culture, ecology, and economy in a broad historical context. Describes the diversity of plant and animal life found in and along the rivers, and details how various human populations have used the rivers and floodplains from the earliest human habitation to the present. Includes color photos of wildlife of the area and of rural peoples and their regional economy, and an appendix of common and scientific names of plants and animals. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

A comprehensive overview of the Amazon Basin's riparian ecology and of the economic development that threatens to destroy it.

"As the new century approaches," the authors write, "the Amazon is being transformed by deforestation, urban growth, mining, dams, and widespread exploitation of its natural resources." Yet in world coverage of these events, they maintain, the Amazon serves as a backdrop; they offer the astonishing fact that more is known about the Amazon as a whole than about a handful of its tributaries, thanks to a lack of thoroughgoing ecological investigations of the entire region. This book, by three leading authorities on the Amazon, provides a summary of what is, in fact, known. Among the sobering matters that the authors cover is the destruction of Brazil's Atlantic rainforest over the centuries, "a poignant lesson in the dangers of ignoring the need for conservation and rational management of natural resources." They examine the history of jute and rubber production, which brought the first wave of European and mestizo colonists into the Amazonian interior a century ago, and describe current economic trends, especially the clearance of rainforest for livestock grazing. Along the way, they offer a guided tour of the Amazon's rich and varied ecological zones, noting that "most of the Amazon's legendary biodiversity is not . . . expressed in the vertebrates," but in insects, in the preservation of whose floodplain habitat lies the key to determining how to save the larger rainforest. That determination is pressing, because the destruction of that region "could happen in just decades. . . . Unless action is taken within the next few years, it may be too late. The task would then be restoration, not preservation."

A fine contribution to Amazonian studies and to the literature of environmental advocacy.

Kirkus Reviews