The Amazon is a region of superlatives, it spans the borders of eight countries; it is the world's largest river basin and the source of one-fifth of the Earth's freshwater; it has the world's highest diversity of birds and freshwater fish; it is the planet's largest and most luxuriant rainforest in which, amazingly, live more than one third of all species in the world. But despite its natural richness, the Amazon ecosystem is fragile and in peril. …
