Topic description and stories

Man (seringueiro) extracts latex from a tree in the middle of the Amazon.

A new way of thinking about the economy could help protect the Amazon, and help its people thrive

06 Aug 2024

To protect the Amazon and support the wellbeing of its people, its economy needs to shift from environmentally harmful production to a model built...

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Travelling to a peatland area with the Urarina.

The cultural significance of carbon-storing peatlands to rural communities

21 May 2019

A group of UK and Peruvian researchers have carried out the first detailed study of how rural communities interact with peatlands in the Peruvian...

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In Peruvian Amazon Rainforest

‘Keep it local’ approach to protecting the rainforest can be more effective than government schemes

12 Sep 2017

Conservation initiatives led by local and indigenous groups can be just as effective as schemes led by government, according to new research. In some...

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Enawenê-nawê men check basket and bark traps for fish before reinserting them into the weir’s upriver face

Man v fish in the Amazon rainforest

11 Nov 2016

The Enawenê-nawê people of the Amazon rainforest make beautifully engineered fishing dams. Living alongside this indigenous community, Dr Chloe Nahum...

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Corn plantation nearby remaining forest in the Amazon region

Amazon deforestation ‘threshold’ causes species loss to accelerate

04 Mar 2015

One of the largest area studies of forest loss impacting biodiversity shows that a third of the Amazon is headed toward or has just past a threshold...

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Amazonia at a crossroads

17 Oct 2013

The Amazon rainforest faces an uncertain future – one that an international research network hopes to help steer towards sustainability.

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Amazon rainforest

Leading the battle to protect the Amazon

09 Jan 2013

A graduate of Cambridge’s fledgling MPhil in Conservation Leadership returned last month to speak to current students about his vital work to protect...

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The plant used in the rainforest remedy

Rainforest remedy could spell end of dental pain

14 Mar 2012

An ancient Incan toothache remedy – for centuries handed down among an indigenous people in the rainforests of Peru – could be on the cusp of...

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