Agro-ecology

Much of the Amazon rain forest was once farmland

Abstract

The Amazon rain forest was, before the Europeans came, as cultivated as forests anywhere else in the world. It was not 'virgin'. The native people still living within the forest are remnants descended from highly structured societies with suitably developed agriculture and food systems. A vast number of foods including guaraná, açaí and manioc (above) have been cultivated for thousands of years. This revolutionises understanding of the nature and value of Amazonia, the imperative need to protect and strengthen its own identity, and to learn yet again that in agro-ecology is the salvation of the planet.