They take up land that could be used to grow crops or farm useful animals; they are impossible to traverse quickly without hydroplanes, and a journey that would take hours by road can take weeks by boat. And they harbour disease and dangerous animals. So it’s little wonder that a previous governor of the Amazonas region of Brazil – in which there are still 157 million hectares of virgin forest – handed out free chainsaws to anyone willing to go and develop what rich westerners would regard as a priceless and inviolable part of our global heritage.
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