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Friday 5 December 2008

Tree of Rivers: The Story of the Amazon

Wilful destruction of a world wonder

Robin Hanbury-Tenison reviews John Hemming's account of the Amazon

And the same treatment was meted out to the natural world. Fabulous bounty was squandered with an apparently compulsive profligacy. I was particularly horrified by the account of the destruction of the great river turtles, which were described in 1870, when mating, as lining the water’s edge in rows eight or ten deep, the clashing of their shells being heard for miles. Up to five million eggs were destroyed every year, their rich oil used for cooking ‘and to light rich families’ chandeliers’. Now they are an endangered species. This compares with what was done to the cod of the Grand Banks in more recent times. And, of course, today’s destruction, once more for short term profit from timber or soya, is of the forest itself. Will we never learn?

Many people have fallen in love with the Amazon and been inspired by its richness and beauty. The world’s pre- eminent natural scientists, like Humboldt, Wallace and Bates spent years studying and collecting, and their accounts reveal the diversity of the place and the excitement of discovery, as well as the hardship and danger of life there. One of my favourites is the naturalist and explorer Charles Waterton (1782-1865), ‘Britain’s first eco- warrior and its first genuine lover of tropical forests’. His bestselling book, Waterton’s Wanderings in South America, was full of lyrical descriptions, as well as high adventure. When telling of wrestling with a large cayman (crocodile) and riding it like a horse, he explains that he was able to keep his seat because ‘I hunted some years with Lord Darlington’s fox hounds’.

John Hemming’s passion for the great forests and the people of Amazonia shines through this book. His command of the subject, based on intense and meticulous research, enhanced by a lifetime of direct experience through many expeditions, makes him the most qualified author to have written this definitive work. He has done his subject proud.

Robin Hanbury-Tenison is President of Survival International which helps tribal peoples protect their livelihoods and determine their own futures. www.survival-international.org

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