Are illegal methods the only main form of profit in the Amazon Rainforest? The
Amazon Rainforest is a constant target of many companies who illegally harvest wood
for easy profit and farming. Drug trade is also present in the vast areas of the Amazon.
Though both methods are different, they share a common goal of profit.1 To counter the
logging and illegal drug trade, many have chosen to study the medicine available in the
Amazon Rainforest. Learning about the indigenous people living in the rainforest also
helps add value to the Amazon exceeding the numerical profit logging and drugs
produce. Though many have recognized the economic potential of the Amazon
Rainforest through illegal logging and drug trade, legal opportunities for medicinal
research and cultural education have been proved a beneficial substitute.
Deforestation has taken a toll on the Amazon Rainforest. Fifteen percent of the
forests have already been razed. Much of the land had been converted for mining and
industrial agriculture.2 On the cleared land, soy was grown for feed for farm animals. The
wood logged from the rainforest was used as a cheap material for plywood or as timber.3
The people tearing down the Amazon were either entrepreneurs in search of money or
those in need of money but lack any other opportunities.4
The people in search of money migrated to the Amazon Rainforest because of its
opportunities for mass farming of soy. The soy farmed would then be sent to various
markets, giving a cause to continue deforesting the Amazon.5 As the deforested land
increased, workers were needed to farm the land. People migrating from poorer areas
reached the Amazon in hopes of making money. They would either farm, mine for gold,
or become land invaders for richer migrants or organizations. As a land invader, the
people would occupy protected land reserves and use it as farmland and pasture.6
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Soy was not the only crop available to be farmed. Many chose to deforest patches
of land to farm coca, the plant used to make cocaine. Two million three hundred thousand
hectares of forest were destroyed for cultivating coca. As said by Rand Beers, assistant
secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs, “This figure
amounts to about one-quarter of all the deforestation that occurred in the area during the
20th century.”7 To protect the coca crop, the farmers used pesticides around and on the
land. The run-off of the poisonous chemicals damaged and destroyed natural plants while
killing animals consuming the poison.8 The land’s farming capabilities, however, were
not the only aspects of the Amazon Rainforest drug dealers took advantage of.
Because of the Amazon’s vast area, spiraling rivers, and growing canopy, drug
dealers were able to smuggle and transport drugs in discreet methods. The various rivers
and streams in the Amazon allowed the dealers to protect their commodities from the
government; many governments did not have the resources and money to guard all the
rivers. Multiple small airstrips also permitted the dealers to fly their drugs around and out
of the rainforest. However, the Brazilian and Colombian governments had started
countering the drug dealers with radars to locate the dealers and anti-air policies against
planes refusing to land for inspections.9
Pharmaceutical drug research is new method to counter deforestation. The net
value of researched is much greater than that of harvested land. Land used for medical
research can produce two thousand four hundred dollars; logged land can only produce
four hundred dollars while grazing land can produce only sixty dollars. “Amazon” John
Easterling best describes the profitable value of the Amazon while preserving it when he
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stated “If you really want to be a part of the solution, the whole idea is to make the
rainforest more valuable than dead.”10
There are various types of medicines being researched in the Amazon Rainforest.
A major medicine compound is sangre de drago, or dragon’s blood. The medicine refers
to the sap of the tree sangre de drago. The sap contains many antioxidants, ninety percent
of which are proanthocyanidins. Sangre de drago can aid external injuries, by helping
coagulate blood, and internally, by reducing inflammation.11 The indigenous people of
the Amazon also use Sangre de Drago as aid for ulcers and as an antibacterial agent.
Chanca piedra is another medical herb found in the Amazon Rainforest. Its
traditional application is to help people pass and prevent kidney stones. Chanca piedra
helps diminish calcium crystals, a main mineral in kidney stones, and prevent them from
forming. As the herb shrinks the crystals’ size, it also relaxes the urinary and biliary
tracts, diminishing pain while the stones are being passed.12
Cat’s Claw, or Uña de Gato, also is being researched in the Amazon Rainforest. It
contains strong antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents. Indigenous people used cat’s
claw to respiratory, muscle, and joint health. They also used it as a digestive aid and to
clean the kidneys. The World Health Organization has acknowledged cat’s claw as one of
the world’s most important medicinal plants.13
In addition to the medical research, indigenous people also reside within the
Amazon Rainforest. While colonization, disease, and slavery spread as colonizers settles,
many tribes decided to take refuge within the vast Amazon Rainforest. The tribes stayed
safe because of the lack of knowledge of the wealth and profit the Amazon Rainforest
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could provide; however, because of logging, agriculture, and drug trade, the tribes have
become reintroduced to the stress of modern society.14
The Amazon provides everything the tribes need to survive. Food and medicine
can be gathered, while shelter and tools can be made. The rainforest also is central to
spiritual and cultural life for the many tribes. Two hundred eighty thousand to three
hundred fifty thousand indigenous people live in the Brazilian Amazon alone. One
hundred eighty thousand of those indigenous people still live traditionally.15
There are over two hundred indigenous groups scattered throughout the Amazon
Rainforest. The culture varies greatly from tribe to tribe, increasing the variety of culture
in the Amazon. However, every year, the Kuarup festival brings the participating tribes
together as one. In the festival, the people honor and celebrate the loss of their loved ones
with food, games, music, dance, and rituals. On special occasions, visitors can view and
partake in the festivities, depending on the tribe leaders.16
Recently, the growing and expanding cultures, through tourists and illegal
entrepreneurs, have begun to affect tribes within the Amazon. Most of the Amerindian
tribes have adopted western styles. They wear western clothing instead of traditional
garments, use metal pots, pans, and utensils on a daily basis, and find profit in selling
crafts to passing tourists. Rather than hunting and gathering, the people now travel to
cities to purchase their food and other products from markets. Households contain two
gardens: a small garden for various plants and a plantation for growing bananas or rice.
The plantations are created using a traditional slash-and-burn method.17
Other tribes, however, have suffered from exposure with the western culture. The
Yanomani Tribe lives near northern Brazil. Around the 1970’s, gold miners arrived in
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search of land to mine; they took the Yanomani’s native land as their own. As more
miners began migrating to the Yanomani’s land, they brought various diseases, such as
tuberculosis and the flu, killing thousands of the tribesmen. The pollution caused by the
mining poisoned the animals and people. Planes flying overhead frighten the animals
necessary for food away. The miners, armed with guns, killed many of the Yanomani.
Leftover guns were used during inter-village conflicts. The western society caused both
simulated growth and violence.17
The Amazon Rainforest is constantly viewed as a form of profit. Illegal logging,
agriculture, and drug dealings aid the views of the Amazon as solely profitable through
monetary means. However, medical research and indigenous culture counter the
monetary viewpoint. As medical research increases, the Amazon Rainforest’s importance
to the advances of medical science increases as well. The human value of the indigenous
culture adds a value to the Amazon not replaceable with any other form of wealth. As
more is learned of the Amazon Rainforest, logging and agriculture will die, being
replaced with a growing science and human study.
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1. Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Rain Forest, http://www.amazon-rainforest.org/
destruction.html (accessed November 1, 2009).
2. Greenpeace International, "Threats and Solutions," Greenpeace
International, http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/forests/amazon/
threats-and-solutions (accessed November 1, 2009).
3. Greenpeace International, "Amazon," Greenpeace International,
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/forests/amazon (accessed
November 1, 2009).
4. Mongabay, "Social Causes of Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest,"
Mongabay, September 14, 2009, http://news.mongabay.com/2009/
0914-fearnside_social_amazon.html (accessed November 5, 2009).
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Eric Green, post to Cannabis News Web forum, January 30, 2002,
http://cannabisnews.com/news/11/thread11877.shtml (accessed November 1, 2009).
8. Ibid.
9. Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Rain Forest, http://www.amazon-rainforest.org/
destruction.html (accessed November 1, 2009).
10. Joy Taylor et al., "The Amazon Rainforest: More Valuable Alive Than
Dead," Acupuncture Today, December 2003, page 1,
http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=28359 (accessed
November 1, 2009).
11. Troy Casey, host., Amazon Herbs research with Rain Forest curanderos.,
Discovery's Planet Green, August 30, 2009, YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=dqwo_0HblzE (accessed November 1, 2009).
12. Ibid.
13. Amazon Herb Company Independent Distributors, "Cats ClawHherb (Una de
Gato) from the Amazon Rainforest," Wild Harvested Amazon Herbs Graviola, Cat's
Claw, Dietary Fiber and More, http://cats-claw.amazon-herbs.org/ (accessed
November 8, 2009).
14. Amazon Rainforest, "Indigenous Tribes," Amazon Rainforest,
http://www.amazon-rainforest.org/indigenous-tribes.html (accessed November 8,
2009).
15. Greenpeace, "People of the Amazon," Greenpeace International,
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/forests/amazon/
people-of-the-amazon (accessed November 1, 2009).
16. Amazon Rainforest, "Indigenous Tribes," Amazon Rainforest,
http://www.amazon-rainforest.org/indigenous-tribes.html (accessed November 8,
2009).
17. Mongabay, "People in the Amazon Rainforest," The Amazon,
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/amazon_people.html (accessed November 8,
2009).
18. Ibid.
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