Day 3 - Wednesday, May 20, 2009: Amazonas, Rio Negro

By Kurt Doiron

The Amazon is a mysterious place. After watching programs about it on the National Geographic channel, my perception of the Brazilian rainforest was rather skewed. I have always thought of it as a place teeming with life, and that a walking through it could easily prove to be deadly. So, in preparation for my visit, I invested in four hundred dollars worth of shots, pills and first aid items to protect myself from the dangers of the forest. However, after paying a visit to the forest myself, speaking with our Amazon guides and reading about deforestation in the region, a grim reality dawned on me. I am more of a threat to the forest than the forest is to me.

Today I awoke from my hammock to the smell of fresh coffee and a smorgasbord of eggs, bread, cheese, ham, and fruit juices. As I sat on the deck of our riverboat, I sipped my coffee and looked out on the great Rio Negro, one of three rivers that make up the Amazon Basin. The river is the color of iced tea, brown but translucent. It has flooded the lower tributary of the forest, and it looks as though the trees have grown up underwater with the tree tops just above the river’s surface. The sky is clear and a genteel breeze flows through the open-air cabin as we chug-a-lug down the river with the dense jungle on either side. We are on our way to a spot where we can enter the forest and soon we will embark on a jungle trek through the Amazon.


Jon Floyd and Professor John Taylor in the jungle.

The river boat pulls into an inlet and docks in front of a small house. Although it would be considered uninhabitable by American standards, the house is in better shape than most I have seen along the Amazon. Jason, my guide, calls to the house and a man emerges equipped with a sharp machete and thick rubber boots. As I contemplate my pocket knife and ragged tennis shoes, it occurs to me that I may be a little unprepared. The man is older than Jason, but despite his age, Jason concedes the lead to him as we begin our journey. For a brief time, our trek took place along a beaten path with little need for machetes or even boots. Jason began to talk about various insects and I thought to myself, “Ok, I guess this is going to be a Disneyland tour after all.” But just then, as if provoked by my thought, we suddenly turned off the path and enter the dark wilderness of the jungle.

I always thought that walking through the jungle would be like walking through a hot and humid zoo of animals, with poisonous plants and deadly insects. However, the Amazon forest was rather cool and breezy; the plants were not unlike the vegetation I have experienced growing up in Florida, and there were no an animals in sight. In fact, after not seeing a bird or a snake for an hour, I began to question the accuracy of the Discovery Channel. Suddenly Jason stopped in front of an unassuming tree. He took out his machete and dug it into the tree trunk until a white
sap came oozing out. “Taste!” Jason said, as he dipped his finger in the sap and licked it off of his finger. “This is a very important medicinal plant for the people in the forest.” He went on to say how the plant helped to treat various diseases like tuberculosis and other stomach illnesses by drinking the sap. As we continued through the forest Jason would point out trees that can be used for everything from snake bites and respiratory infections to perfumes and candles. It seemed that in our mere two mile trek, almost every other tree had some practical purpose. Jason’s story of the Amazon forest was truly fascinating, but it had a bitter end. While all these plants in the forest still contain benefits, some of which have not yet been discovered, deforestation by the various occupiers of Brazil have all but eliminated many of these most prized resources. The birds of the forest began to sing, and a pungent smell filled the air. “Smell that?” said Jason, “that’s the monkey smell; they’re hiding and waiting for us to leave. Do you hear the birds? That’s the rain bird, weather predictors for the Amazon!” Then, as if on queue, it started to rain. Jason and his companion guide walked us through the forest for another hour or so, showing us the bountiful forest and then brought us back to the river boat.

After a quick dip and wash in the river, we ate and gathered around the top deck of our riverboat for our nightly class. Tonight, class began with a red sunset behind the Amazon and picked up with a burning question from the discussion the night before. “Is the Amazon’s deforestation the fault of Brazil? Whose responsibility is it to correct the situation, and how can deforestation be stopped?” The answer is evenly divided. On the one hand, Brazil is a developing country looking to liquidate the forest in order to reach the status of other developed countries that have already done so. On the other, developed countries are urging Brazil not to destroy the forest because it contains one fifth the world’s fresh water supply; it consumes greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide, and holds the world’s highest concentration of biodiversity. Simply put, the destruction of the Amazon rainforest holds great consequences for the rest of the world. Without it, the many species of animals and plants including the quality of the Earth’s fresh water would be lost without the support of the Amazon’s ecosystem.

Another important consideration is the affect of Brazilian nationalism. While it is easy to advise Brazil about the importance of conservation from an American perspective, Brazilian’s who desire the same benefits and luxuries as Americans find such intrusions hypocritical. Many Brazilians believe that the forest is their resource and that they should be free to do as they please with it. However, as an international consciousness for environmental conservation grows, the value of resources provided by the Amazon has also become greater. The question then becomes “how do we preserve the Amazon and its rainforest while allowing for Brazil to industrialize? While it seems clear that a balance must be struck between the two positions, it is hard to imagine that there is room for further destruction of the forest. Even today, miles of the Amazon are being deforested by the hour.

I don’t pretend to know the solution to this problem facing the Brazilian government. It is difficult to contemplate the decision between Brazil’s need for preservation of such a great environmental resource and the need to protect the livelihood of its citizens. Furthermore, enforcement of regulations already in place is problematic to say the least. IBAMA, Brazil’s regulatory agency is underfunded, and corruption is rampant as demand for Brazil’s hardwoods grow and logging the forest becomes more and more profitable. Resources for environmental protection are also rather marginal. Brazil has allocated one helicopter and just over a dozen agents to patrol thousands of square miles of forest. Given this skeleton crew of protectors, it is easy to see how cattle ranchers, loggers, and other land-grabbers are almost unencumbered in slashing and burning large tracts of land along the Transamerican Amazon highway.

Despite the problems posed by the Amazon’s vast expanse of forest, its need for foreign direct investment, and the world’s insatiable appetite for money, there is some hope for Amazonian preservation. Sustainable cutting and land use can be done to accommodate the demand for industry and the need for conservation. It just requires that regulations be followed and that proponents on both sides of the issues negotiate and come to an understanding. Today, President Lula has begun various programs such as the REDD program to help make environmental preservation both effective and rewarding. Furthermore, by drawing attention to the dilemma posed by Brazil’s need to industrialize and a global dependence on the resources provided by the Amazon, it is becoming clear that preservation of the Amazon is a global problem, and not just Brazil’s. Therefore, a global decision must be made to save the forest and every country must do its part to protect it. Nevertheless, as I look at the sunset beyond the trees, I can’t help but think about how little I understood the Amazon before experiencing it the way I have the last few days. I can only hope that the World wakes up to the need to preserve the Amazon so that its true value can be realized, and the myth that this forest is worth more cut down than standing is eradicated forever.