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Providing tropical forest news, statistics, photos, and information, rainforests.mongabay.com is the world's most popular rainforest site. [more]
Wade Davis on Inca Society
"The Incas ruled with absolute power but understood
that a people well fed and treated fairly produced more and worked harder than those suffering from injustice and
privation. The entire system was based on the enlightened self-interest of a nobility that derived its authority
from the gods and its power from the control of the most formidable armies of the known world. Demands on the individual
were severe, but predictable and consistent. The state guaranteed freedom from every sort of want and in exchange
demanded heavy tribute in labor. This fundamental reciprocity allowed the ruling elite to harness tremendous levies
of workers to build the great public works of the empire. Evidence of their tireless works is found everywhere
in Peru today: rivers channeled and straightened to liberate precious agricultural land, massive boulders carved
into ceremonial pools or decorated with wild facades of iconography, remnants or royal roads, bridges, palaces,
and way stations."
"Rainforest" is used interchangeably with "rain forest" on this site. Same for "rainforests" and "rain forests". "Jungle" is generally not used.
Recent news
Amazon deforestation rate falls to lowest on record (8/10/2007) Deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon for the previous year were the lowest on record, according to preliminary figures released by INPE, Brazil's National Institute of Space Research.
Lowland rainforest less diverse than previously thought (8/9/2007) While rainforests are the world's libraries of biodiversity, species richness may be more evenly distributed in some forests than in others, reports an extensive new study by an international team of entomologists and botanists. The work, published in the current issue of the journal Nature, has important implications for forest management and conservation strategies.
Experts: parks effectively protect rainforest in Peru (8/9/2007) High-resolution satellite monitoring of the Amazon rainforest in Peru shows that land-use and conservation policies have had a measurable impact on deforestation rates. The research is published in the August 9, 2007, on-line edition of Science Express.
