With an area of more than 2 million square miles (5.2 million square kilometers), the Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world. It is so large that it covers an area equal to about half of the United States. Discover more in Amazon Rainforest, one of the titles in the Natural Wonders of the World series.

Barbosa (sociology, San Francisco State University) provides a global, world-systemic analysis of the problem of deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. He shows how changes in global ecopolitics demanding sustainable development, coupled with the onset of democracy in Brazil, substantially altered the battle over the future of Amazonia. He describes deforestation in the region in the context of an expanding frontier of global capitalism, and compares Amazon experiences with those of Costa Rica, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

The information in this book will make you understand the need to protect Earth’s natural systems - the Amazon Rainforest included. There will be a discussion on the functions, structures and characteristics of living things and how they interact with one another and their environment, too. Learn more about the Earth to appreciate it better. Begin reading today.

The Amazon region is the focus of intense conflict between conservationists concerned with deforestation and advocates of agro-industrial development. This book focuses on the contributions of environmental organizations to the preservation of Brazilian Amazonia. It reveals how environmental organizations such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, WWF and others have fought fiercely to stop deforestation in the region. It documents how the history of frontier expansion and environmental struggle in the region is linked to Brazil’s position in an evolving capitalist world-economy. It is shown how Brazil’s effort to become a developed country has led successive Brazilian governments to devise development projects for Amazonia. The author analyses how globalization has led to the expansion of international commodity chains in the region, particularly for mineral ores, soybeans and beef. He shows how environmental organizations have politicized these commodity chains as weapons of conservation, through boycotting certain products, while other pro-development groups within Brazil claim that such organizations threaten Brazil's sovereignty over its own resources.

The book is intended for a general audience, as well as for students, researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders who are interested in learning more about the problem and the potential of the Amazon forest. The book aims to raise awareness and generate action for reducing deforestation and promoting forest conservation and sustainable development in the Amazon, for the benefit of the planet and its people.

Upper Primary Themes books cover relevant, contemporary topics, in this book it looks at the rainforest. It is divided into four-page units which include a teacher information page, student information page, student comprehension page and a cross-curricular activity. There is a detailed overview for each theme, with relevant background information for the teacher.