which industries are developed in amazon basin
Answers
For decades, this remote town overlooking the chocolate-colored waters of the Amazon River has been the main source of guarana, a bright-red, highly caffeinated berry that is believed by many Brazilians to be an aphrodisiac.
Inspired by a Romeo-and-Juliet-esque legend that guarana had originated from a tempestuous affair between two teenagers from rival Indian tribes, Brazilians have consumed guarana in a variety of forms: teas, tablets -- even soft drinks.
These days, guarana provides a clear example of the way many of the 20 million Brazilians living in the Amazon River Basin are seeking to harness the region's exotic flora and fauna to promote economic development.
''What better product to represent the Amazon than a natural stimulant that is harvested without harming the environment?'' said Valmir Ferrari, an agronomist with Companhia de Bebidas das Americas, a Brazilian beverage company planning to export a guarana soft drink to rich industrialized nations in a venture with PepsiCo. ''This could be bigger than Viagra.''
While the libido-enhancing effects of guarana may have more to do with fiction than fact, it is no small wonder that products from the Amazon, a region that has long gripped popular imagination as the world's largest rain forest, are being viewed as a way for the region to develop without harming the environment at a time when other forces are threatening to speed its depletion.