ABSTRACT
The Amazon rainforest, once a symbol of unfettered life itself, has become a sign pointing to the man-made threat to life on earth. The timber industry has attracted little interest in socioeconomic research on the Amazon region because the focus of studies has as a rule been on processes of deforestation and their causes. The empirical point of departure for the study was the question as to the extent to which foreign-trade relations promote or hinder the emergence of environmentally sustainable patterns of resource utilization in developing countries. The Para timber industry has had to deal with the environmental-quality standards of its European and North American customers since the beginning of the 1990s. Technical progress and social change must from on follow a more economical use of natural resources. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
