The Amazon Rain Forest in the Future of the World

198 Pages·2003·455.99 MB·English

by  Antonio Espirito Santo

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PRESENTATION
"In fact, citizenship goes far beyond speeches. Citizenship includes a respectful
relation with the environment without the false pretexts of preservation that cast aside
human beings or prevent their responsible access to the wealth it generates. Men of vision
have long perceived this. Antonio Espfrito Santo was one of these visionaries. In this sense,
The Amazon Rain Forest in the Future of the World is emblematic: the experience of
the author, who lived in the region from 1951 to 1960, is openly shared without prejudice.
BM&F, SCHAHIN GROUP and COMOLATII GROUP are proud to support this fourth edition
of his work. As put by the author himself, "we are often astonished at the limited
knowledge the foreigners have of our country, when we ourselves know so little about it. "
The Amazon Rain Forest in the Future of the World is an excellent gateway to this
special knowledge providing great insights into what biodiversity tru ly is, and how one
of the most beautiful regions in the world can be explored with respect. One can also
take great delight in Leonide Principe's superb images.
We hope that this posthumous edition serves as a starting point for a great
conscientious and democratic, prejudice-free discussion, and that through this book we
can practice our citizenship even more.
The Editor

THE AMAZON RAIN FOREST
FROM 1956 TO 2002
The author had a happy inspiration: he entered the core of the essential character of
Brazil, trying to discover Amazonia for Brazilians.
This discovery is a virgin sector. There is a lot yet to be discovered .
The author penetrated deep into the Amazon Rain Forest. He didn't go in search
of landscapes; he traveled all over this splendorous laboratory of Nature where God
seems insatiable of phantasmagoric forms and is still testing the strength of his creative
genius. In this way, the author tried to show Amazonia to Brazilians. And he left a legacy
to be rescued.
The first edition of this book was published in the early 50s. The author moved to
Manaus in 1951, when the city lived a life isolated from the world and was immersed in
the Amazon Rain Forest.
Transportation was by water (Amazonia has the largest hydrographic basin in the world)
and the air connections were made by the former Pan Air of Brazil "Catalinas PBY-5A",
interconnecting the most remote localities in the region (such as these towns in the
Amazon Rain Forest: Tefe, Tabatinga, Eirunepe, Moura, Pari-Cachoeira - a religious
mission - among others), and by regular air lines flying to other places of the country.
Public illumination came from power plants propelled by diesel oil. Manaus was one
of the first Brazilian towns to have public illumination, which was an investment carried out
by the industrialists of that time, result of good business with industrialization of rubber.
When the author went there, the cycle of wealth brought about by rubber was
almost over. Amazonia had not awoken yet to its greatness and to the international envy.
The careful reading of the fourth edition of this book will take the reader to the past
and will bring him back to the present bearing towards the future. He will become aware
that almost nothing has changed, except the dispute about Amazonia. We still have to
discover the "green paradise", where everything is transformed, where the resources
remain natural, where survival is a difficult experience but a very gratifying one, where we
are going to find solutions for countless problems that afflict mankind today.
Possessing the largest natural heritage, in modern terms called biodiversity,
Amazonia has great chances of turning Brazil into a country of first magnitude in
worldwide economy. A country able to develop in the next ten years all that was not
developed in the last fifty years. Only political intention and the success of modern science
will be sufficient for this.