MANAUS, BRAZIL : Threat to the Amazon

With much of the developed world now aware of the environmental threat to Brazil’s Amazon region, an international conference will explore the dimensions of the threat beginning next Monday.

Manaus, a city carved from the Amazon wilderness, will be the site of the weeklong conference on preserving Brazil’s vast tropical forests.

Participants in round tables and workshops will include experts on tropical ecosystems, agriculture, mining and economic development.

The conference, known informally as “Forest 90,” is organized by a coalition of Brazilian environmental groups. Some sample discussion topics: “Alternatives to deforestation,” “Forest peoples,” and “Mining, industrialization and environmental control.”