Extractive reserves: the use of protected areas to promote sustainable management

The tales of tourists and visitors to the Amazon of 30 years ago boil down to a sense of awe at that ‘huge green carpet’, which was the impression gathered from an aircraft, and a feeling of emptiness and loneliness derived from the stereotyped image of ‘being lost in the forest’. Today, anyone flying over the region tends to be appalled at the way the ‘huge carpet’ has been slashed and burned, particularly in the states of Pará, Maranháo, Mato Grosso, Rondónia and Acre.