The Indigenous People of the Rainforests

Tropical rainforests have provided shelter for humans since ancient times. These people have built their lives around the surrounding forests and its systems. Consequently, they are a great storehouse of the knowledge about the forests. They know the medicinal properties of the plants, and understand the value of the forest as a thriving ecosystem. However, as forests fall, these people lose their homes and their culture. There were an estimated ten million Indians living in the Amazon rainforest, today there are only about 200,000. In Brazil alone, European colonists have destroyed about 90 indigenous tribes since the 1990's.
In the past, commercial firms, settlers, and governments developed forest lands without the permission of the original indigenous inhabitants. Even today, in countries like Brazil and Bolivia, private interests illegally encroach on the lands of native peoples. Sometimes, indigenous people will be given the choice of whether they want their land developed or left in its natural state. Often times, this creates a rift in the tribe because some people want the change, and some want the land untouched. On occasion, development firms will make a deal with those who support development, ignoring the wishes of the rest. Elders of a community can also be taken advantage of by developers because they don't always understand the meaning of "sale;" they regard land and many other material things as communal property, something that is shared among all. When development occurs, native people are encouraged to move away from the rainforests and into a more civilized area. Many are reluctant, but they do see conveniences in our culture such as T-shirts and Tupperware. As they slowly start to turn to this culture, think of all the elements from their culture they lose, and in turn we lose. Knowledge about the complexity of the rainforests, medicinal plants, methods of cultivation, ecological value, are all gone. Gone are the unique cultures that have thrived in the rainforests for generations.