The Palgrave Handbook on the International Relations of the Amazon

This handbook reframes the Amazon Rainforest as central to international relations. With contributions from a diverse group of authors, it shows how political, social and economic forces both endanger the forest and open real pathways to protect it. Chapters examine the bioeconomy; cross-border and narco-deforestation; land grabbing and gold laundering; forest carbon projects (REDD+); Indigenous and riverine rights and governance (including ILO Convention 169); Amazonian cities; China’s role; the EU Deforestation Regulation; and carbon markets. Using decolonising, participatory and visual methods alongside grounded fieldwork, case studies and conceptual chapters, we connect law, culture, power, ecology and economy across local, regional and global scales. Written in accessible language, this handbook bridges scholarship and practice for researchers, students, journalists and policymakers interested in geopolitics, climate change, biodiversity, sustainability, development, security and governance in the Amazon to clearly refuse determinism and offer fresh analytical tools and practical policy options for the Pan-Amazonian region.