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These two books both argue that the rainforests have been used - and modified - for thousands of years by human beings, but that in the past few decades, under the impact of Western industrial societies, the intensity of human utilization has increased, to the point where their very existence is threatened. The books diverge sharply, however, in their emphasis. The Redford and Padoch book, which evolved from a 1989 workshop, examines the roles of aboriginal people and long - time settlers in Amazonia, and suggests that working with, and learning from, these people offers the best hope of sustainable use for the Amazon rainforest. Aiken and Leigh, by contrast, find what slim hope they can offer in an urban middle class who have managed to stop some particularly voracious developmental forays, but may not have the strength to withstand the full range of governmental and commercial pressures threatening Malaysia's rainforest.
Several contributors to the Redford and Padoch volume provide detailed looks at the resource - gathering strategies of both aboriginal people and the "folk societies" of long - time settlers who have intermarried with, and learned traditional techniques from, the "tribal societies" of aboriginals. These people, while drawn increasingly into the market society which surrounds them, have generally managed to resist any short - term profit maximization in favour of strategies which emphasize diversity, thus incidentally providing themselves with long - term sustainability.
The most striking example of this, described by Anthony Anderson and Edviges Ioris, comes from an island near the large Amazonian city...