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The Amazonian territories of Brazil, Bolivia and Ecuador encompass nearly half of the world's remaining tropical rainforest and contain a wealth of biodiversity whose value we have only begun to appreciate. This book is an authoritative analysis of the socioeconomic and biophysical factors operating at local, national and global levels that serve to promote deforestation in this delicate region. The leading scholars and specialists in this volume, from both Latin America and the United States, present a uniquely interdisciplinary study of the historical, economic and political causes accounting for the pace and pattern of the area's deforestation. Their collected research provides a highly instructive sampler of the best and most useful approaches to land use and deforestation across the broad range of disciplines, agencies and orientations involved, from the long-term impact of road construction projects, colonization schemes and commodity prices to immediate concerns over quality of life, water availability and climate variation. Heavily illustrated with numerous maps, tables and charts, the book is a resource for planners, preservationists, regulatory agencies, demographers, and anyone interested in this environmentally strategic part of the world.