The Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical forest in the world. Spanning eight countries (Brazil, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia) and French Guiana, the Amazon is a treasure of biodiversity, geological reserves, and human culture. With the largest river in the world, the most diverse fresh water fish species in the world, more plant species than all of North America and Europe combined, and home to some 170 indigenous languages in Brazil alone, the Amazon has captured the interest of scientists, adventurers, politicians, anthropologists, and entrepreneurs for more than 400 years. The Amazon's conservation and development outlook has been evolving since the first humans sought to transform its natural resources for the benefit of human civilization. Today, the advent of global communication has globalized trade and the world's economic systems, perhaps, posing to impact the conservation and development dynamics of the Amazon more than at any point in history. Since the 1950s, Amazonian countries have laid the foundation for opening the forest's natural resources (e.g., timber, minerals, fossil fuel reserves) to domestic and international markets. Amazon development and expansion schemes have included establishing development infrastructure (e.g., highways, energy sources, and waterways), supportive government economic programs, and the urbanization and industrialization of cities. These combined elements support a development framework aimed at attracting large-scale industrial activity (i.e., initiated by corporations)-such as cattle ranching, bioprospecting, oil drilling, soybean production, and mineral extractivism. Past and current land reform and colonization programs seeking to minimize population pressure and to alleviate poverty have spurred small-scale activity (i.e., initiated by forest dwellers and colonists)-like spontaneous migration and smallholder farming, which have also affected the outlook of Amazon development. Alongside development plans, conservation efforts initiated by governments, international banks, non-governmental organizations, and scientists are seeking to encourage sustainable development models. To understand the breadth of conservation and development issues facing the Amazon today, this paper will review the status of major Amazon development and conservation areas: infrastructure, agriculture and forestry, biodiversity and bioprospecting, mineral extractivism, and Amazon communities. Included in this discussion will be a description of current and future development and conservation projects (e.g., hydroelectric dams and agroforestry programs) and the environmental, economic, and social influences and implications of the development sector and/or conservation strategy. Lastly, the impact of global economic forces will be analyzed with respect to international and domestic Amazon conservation and development policies.

Infrastructural development has been viewed by Amazon governments as essential to the continuous economic and social development of the Amazon. After a series of "boom-and-bust" industry developments (e.g., rubber, quinine, gold), the Brazilian government sought to transition to a more stable industrialization model. Beginning in 1956 with the Brazilian president Juscelin Kubitschek de Oliveira's words that the Amazon would see "fifty years of progress in five years" (McCleary, 1990), infrastructural development has catalyzed major industrial activity in the Amazon. Today, a new development strategy in Brazil, Avanca Brasil, seeks to capture the same "fast-track" industrial development initiated in the 1950s. While a network of roads already exists throughout the Amazon basin, Avanca Brasil aims to strengthen and broaden the network by paving unpaved roads, building new highways and access roads to support new industry projects, and develop a railroad. A recent study of the environmental effects of Avanca Brasil's proposed highways calculated a 30 percent forest loss within 0 to 10 kilometers of highways and 20 and 15 percent forest loss in the 11- to 25- and 26- to 50- km zones, respectively (Laurance et. al., 2001). The same study notes that as highway projects increase access to Amazon areas, other activities such as "slash-and-burn" agriculture and cattle ranching increase, adding to the total deforestation rate of a highway project. Along with highway projects, energy sources are vital to infrastructure development in the Amazon. Energy procurement by Amazonian countries generally follows two schemes: energy resource development to meet industrial activity demands and to minimize governmental debt. In Brazil, rainforest cities like Manaus have grown and industrial projects like commercial gold and bauxite mining have been established, all of which has greatly increased energy demands.

Currently, in Brazil, 75 medium-sized reservoirs are planned, including the Xingu Dam (or Belo Monte Dam), which some scientists are concerned could disrupt aquatic ecosystems (e.g., fish migration) (Lima et. al., 1998). The proposed Xingu Dam, located on the Xingu River, will flood part of the Kayapo Reserve. Protests from the Kayapo and the international environmental community, led the World Bank to cancel funding for the project (Amazon Watch). However, private financing is being arranged.

Another energy project linked to a development scheme in Brazil is the Guri Powerline. The 470-mile power line will run from the Guri dam near Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela to Manaus, Brazil. The power line will cut through several national parks and forest reserves, some of which are indigenous territories. According to the non-governmental organization Amazon Watch, "…this power project is part of a development package that will further open up the Guyana region of Venezuela…to industrial-scale gold mining and logging" (Amazon Watch). Other Amazonian countries like Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia are witnessing expansive oil and natural gas speculation and processing. Since the early 1990s, these countries have worked towards privatizing their energy industries (Rosenfeld et. al., 1997). For many, such as Ecuador, opening up their energy reserves to foreign companies seeks to meet international bank debt requirements (Amazon Watch). Current projects like a heavy crude pipeline in Ecuador, proposed by a consortium of 7 multinational corporations, are also a mechanism for opening up "exploration blocks" in the Amazon to survey for more energy reserves. The environmental and social impacts of energy reserve speculation, transporting, and processing include: deforestation, indigenous conflicts , biodiversity loss, and soil and aquatic contamination.

A final infrastructural development is the channelization of waterways. The aforementioned Avanca Brasil scheme proposes to "industrialize" segments of the Tapajos River and the Tocantins-Araguaia waterway. The plan requires deepening and widening the waterways through dredging and dynamite. Both projects are linked to the transport of agricultural goods (e.g., soybeans), minerals, and timber for export to foreign markets (Amazon Watch). Channelization of waterways threatens to degrade drinking water and the ecological characteristics of the rivers (e.g., turbidity, destroys waterfalls, fish life). In addition, local communities' dependence on fish for food and supplemental income may be threatened as channelization increases the capacity of the commercial fishing industry to reach new locations.

Amazonian infrastructural projects aim to establish industrial activity, much of which contributes to deforestation. Since the beginning of the large-scale development efforts in the Amazon, deforestation rates in the Amazon have fluctuated with global and domestic economic forces. During Brazil's economic recession from 1987-91, deforestation rates declined while in 1995 Brazil's economic revitalization plan, "Plano Real", saw a rise in deforestation rates (Fearnside, 2000). Studies show that the relationship between economic growth and Amazon deforestation can be linked to financial incentives (e.g., tax breaks) given to medium- to large-scale cattle ranches in the Amazon (Fearnside, 2000). To a lesser extent, smallholder farmers contribute to deforestation through the use of "slash-and-burn" techniques, which can be especially damaging during years of extended drought (e.g., el Nino years) (Lovejoy, 2000 and Laurance et. al., 2001).

Avanca Brasil and a growing interest by international timber companies pose to change the current pattern of deforestation. In 1996, Asian corporations invested over $500 million in Brazil's timber industry, a large portion of which goes to the production of pig iron. The Amazon is expected to become an increasingly important source for tropical timber as other sources diminish (Laurance et. al., 2001). With respect to the implications of Avanca Brasil, a recent study predicts that, based on an "optimistic" and a "non-optimistic" model, proposed development projects could lead to 28 to 42 percent of the region deforested in 20 years, respectively (Laurance et. al., 2001). The rapid pace in deforestation, predicted by the study, is the result of proposed development projects penetrating further into the Amazon basin, which could ultimately alter the forested face of the Amazon as it becomes increasingly fragmented .

Development projects such as those proposed by Avanca Brasil can initiate deforestation caused by small-scale agriculture and land settlement. Since the 1960s, government colonization programs aimed at moving people from densely populated regions in Brazil have contributed to cycles of deforestation in the Amazon. To curb the environmental impact of colonization programs, scientists and conservation groups have worked to implement agricultural techniques other than "slash-and-burn". Agroforestry, a method of integrating indigenous and other "low impact" farming techniques to include a diversity of perennials and cash crops have been shown to minimize forest degradation (Smith, 2000). Many agroforestry projects such as the Capim River Agroforestry Project with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) include extractivist reserves (World Wildlife Fund). Agroforestry and extractivist reserves aim to improve and sustain agricultural activity in localized areas in order to reduce the need for migration and unsustainable farming practices.

Another model for curbing deforestation rates seeks to change timbering methods in the Brazilian state of Para. In Para, the city Paragominas' northeastern location and accessibility to the Belem-Brasilia highway has provided a "gateway" to the Amazon forest since the 1960s, making it the timber capital of the Amazon. As a result, 55 percent of Paragominas is deforested, and Para is highly dependent on the logging industry for generating income and jobs . The Institute of Man and the Environment in Amazonia (IMAZON), in conjunction with WWF, are implementing a sustainable logging model that aims to decrease biodiversity and environmental degradation through management practices used throughout the production line (e.g., forest inventory, cost/benefit analysis, environmental impact assessments) (WWF). Declining timber stocks in Paragominas, are causing logging companies to move to the state of Amazonas. To slow the spread of large-scale logging from Paragominas, a broad conservation program funded by the Global Seven (G-7) called the Pilot Program for the Protection of the Tropical Rainforests of Brazil (PPG-7) is using the IMAZON model to design an Amazon-wide forest management model. While the IMAZON forestry model aims to establish environmental management techniques, studying the impact of forest fragmentation on biological diversity can produce a model for implementing conservation corridors that conserve biological "hotspots" (i.e., maintain a certain level of species biodiversity for the conservation of complex ecosystems). Beginning in 1979, the scientific community initiated the "Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project" to understand "what might be an ideal minimum size for a representative tract of Central Amazonian forest [to conserve biodiversity and] to provide information relevant to management strategies for fragments smaller than the ideal minimum" (Lovejoy, 2000). Results of the study indicate that the smaller the forest fragment size, the more species diversity is lost. In addition, the research demonstrated that an "edge effect " must be taken into consideration for developing biodiversity conservation models. Data from the Forest Fragments Project, in conjunction with biodiversity mapping from organization such as Conservation International , reveals zones necessary for conserving biological diversity, which includes areas of endemic species (e.g., a species that can only be found in limited areas such as the Venezuelan Andes). Currently, Avanca Brasil's development zones and other development projects like oil speculation are not integrated into identified biodiversity conservation areas, which threaten to develop the Amazon without considering the impact on biodiversity.

Although development projects poses a threat to biodiversity, the Amazon's biological diversity is increasingly being viewed by Amazonian nations and others as a rich source of genetic resources for agricultural and medicinal purposes. With one of the world's richest areas of plant diversity, one study notes the potential for the Amazon "to be sustainable in terms of food security, nutrition, and economy" (Izquierdo and Riva, 1998). While Amazonian countries are rich in biological reserves, the economic deficits in many countries have rendered nations incapable of managing their biodiversity for an economic benefit. As a result, foreign corporations looking to profit from potential medicinal or agricultural finds in the Amazon have contributed greatly to a proliferation of bioprospecting (e.g., surveying the forest for beneficial genetic resources) (Posey, 2000). While nations such as Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru have economically benefited on some occasions from "debt-for-nature" exchanges, corporations have also engaged in "biopiracy" where countries receive little or nothing for beneficial biological resources. The establishment of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1992 gave nations sovereign rights to their biodiversity with the hope that "biopiracy" would be deemed illegal. By giving nations sovereign rights, countries could ignore indigenous groups' knowledge of biological resources by not compensating indigenous persons for claims to plant uses (Posey, 2000). Recent regional initiatives such as the "Andean Community Common System on Access to Genetic Resources" and the "Law Governing Access to Genetic Resources" adopted by the state of Acre, Brazil give indigenous groups the power to deny access and admission to compensatory measures like patents and royalties. While biological genetic reserves are being surveyed, a similar speculation is underway for the Amazon's geological resources. As economic and political stability returned to Brazil in the 1990s, mineral surveying returned to the Brazilian Amazon following the path of companies seeking to enhance their mineral supply and profit margins or companies hoping for the discovery of El Dorado (gold reserves) (Santos, 1998). Since the 1970s gold mining was dominated by wildcat mining where the poor used mining as supplemental income to farming or industrial wage work (Cleary, 2000). The decline of wildcat mining due to increased government controls and the production of energy sources (e.g., the Guri Powerline in Venezuela) to support large-scale gold mining activity has contributed to a resurgence of the industry.

Broader mining extractivism is driven by recent geological surveys that indicate "Amazonia should play an outstanding role in production of mineral assets such as iron ore, bauxite, copper, gold, manganese, kaolin, cassiterite…" (Santos, 1998). One such potential area, the Carajas Mineral Province, is considered one of the most important metallogenetic anomalies in the earth crust with possibly the world's largest copper reserve and current profits of $1 billion/year from iron ore, manganese, and gold extraction (Santos, 1998). The industrial mining potential for Carajas, as well as the Amazon, is believed to be in its preliminary stage (Santos, 1998). As geological surveying techniques and equipment become more advanced, mineral extractivism is expected to greatly increase in the Amazon. Mining activity can impact natural drainage systems, pollute waters ways (e.g., with mercury from gold mining), and disrupt indigenous communities (e.g., threaten food supply, malaria insurgence).
Disruptions to indigenous communities from development projects have led to conflicts such as the ones mentioned above between the U'wa and Occidental Petroleum and the Kayapo and the construction of the Xingu Dam. Conflicts with industrial development schemes often center on land rights, but sometimes the severity of road building or mining projects impacts can threaten the cultural survival of a tribe with disease, social structure collapse, and environmental degradation . Sixty percent of Brazil's indigenous population lives in the western, central, and northern regions of the Amazon where Avanca Brasil projects are proposed. Ninety-eight percent of these communities have a legal right to their land, but some fear that Brazilian Decree Number 1775 signed into law in 1996 "may trigger a downsizing cycle of indigenous lands" (Ricardo, 1998). Minimizing the impacts of development projects include establishing "green capitalism", or markets where indigenous cultures can benefit from development (e.g., taxing gold miners or federal acknowledgement of indigenous environmental services) (Ricardo, 1998).

Other forest dweller groups like Brazil's cabocolos or colonists from Brazil's land reform programs have come into conflicts with development projects like oil speculation or cattle ranching. These conflicts as well as the difficulty to survive on small-scale agriculture or extractivism has led many forest dwellers to migrant to Brazil's Amazon cities, Belem and Manaus . In fact, Manaus's city limits have grown 360 percent from 1977-87 (SUFRAMA, date?). The growing limits of Manaus has led to increased deforestation near Manaus, as well as increased poverty rates as the city's shanty towns fill up with migrants from the forest (Depres, 1991).

The future of development and conservation schemes in the Amazon will depend on a range of international and national treaties (e.g., implementation of CBD) and conservation and development programs. The PPG-7, which aims to bring broad international support for resource management programs, and the modernization of Brazil's environmental protection agency, IBAMA, has instituted a system for environmental advocacy. In fact, IBAMA has put forth an alternate development proposal to Avanca Brasil based on WWF's Amazon eco-regions. However, the outlook of development and conservation programs will be greatly influenced by global and domestic economic forces. Obligations to international banks such as those seen in relation to oil speculation in Ecuador could continue to affect the direction of development projects. As Amazonian countries become increasingly involved in global markets for natural resources, conservation efforts will continue to be challenged by economic development demands. Many of the sustainable development models discussed in this paper such as agroforestry and IMAZON's forestry model address the multi-faceted issues required to balance conservation and development, as well as contribute to reducing poverty in Amazon communities. As scientific studies merge with information technologies as seen in the Smithsonian Amazon-GIS project and increased global communication teaches students, scientists, policymakers, and the general public about current issues facing the Amazon, the modern tools that have globalized trade and economic systems will be used as tools for establishing new sustainable measures for conservation and development.