The Amazon is one of the richest areas of the world in animal and plant diversity. There are more plant species in one hectare of Amazon rainforest than in all of Europe.

Yet the range of plant and animal species in the Amazon remains largely unknown. Scientists estimate that only 40 percent of all insect species have so far been identified. Over 300,000 species of plants have been identified, but an estimated 20,000 remain undiscovered.

This rich and complex natural tapestry of forest life is interwoven with the people that make the forest their home.

Although the majority of people in the Amazon live in cities and towns, there are still many indigenous groups living in the jungle, some who have had no contact with our "outside" world.

These people rely on the forest for their way of life. It provides almost everything from food and shelter to tools and medicines, as well as playing a crucial role in people's spiritual and cultural life. The people living in the forest make practical and sustainable use of the forest, and live within the constraints of this harsh environment. We have much to learn from their unique and valuable perceptions.

Yet the traditional way of life for indigenous Amazon cultures is being threatened.

Fifteen percent of the Amazon Rainforest has already been destroyed. Since the 1970s, an area of ancient rainforest the size of Texas has been lost. In 2000 alone, almost two million hectares of rainforest in the Brazilian Amazon were lost to illegal and destructive logging, mining, industrial agricultural plantations and other human industries such as road building. A significant part of what remains is under direct threat. One of the greatest dangers to the Amazon rainforest is illegal and destructive logging.

Fuelled by the demand for cheap supplies of mahogany and other tropical timbers both at home and abroad, the illegal timber trade in Brazil represents a major factor in forest degradation. The Brazilian government itself estimates that 80 percent of all timber produced in the Amazon is illegal in some way.

But logging is only the beginning. By building roads into the region, the logging industry opens the door to further exploitation through clearing for agriculture, hunting, fuel wood gathering and mining.

There is no single solution to saving the Amazon rainforest and stopping the destruction.

Certified logging operations offer an important way forward for the logging industry in the Amazon. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is the certification system currently favored as promoting better ecological and social practices.

The Taruma ecological park where Ecosystem is being help was constructed using Amazon wood that is FSC certified. The formerly degraded quarry site has been cleaned up and made into a community park. Solutions like these provide much needed community building infrastructure while economic alternative for the Amazon that do not destroy the forest.

Many more solutions are needed that protect the forest and use its resources responsibly, while simultaneously improving the quality of life for the more than 20 million people living in the region. This can only be achieved if economic alternatives and solutions to destructive logging are adopted.