But for all the terrors of the rainforest, it is equally rewarding in its beauty.
In the right conditions, the rainforest, with its thick stands of eucalypts, can quickly burst into flames.
Surely an intelligent designer would have put the rainforest canopy somewhat lower, and saved on tree trunks?
By moving northwards into the Amazon basin, soya farmers are also driving ranchers deeper into the rainforest.
In some cases, this standard might be provided by an independent scheme, such as the Rainforest Alliance.
For REDD to be sustainable, it will have to be more than life support for the rainforest.
The rainforest made good on its name, pouring down until we hacked through the underbrush into a canopy-covered lagoon.
And its government is well-off, getting revenue from an industrial free-trade zone sited in the middle of the rainforest.
By the late 8th century, the rainforest was in retreat, fuel was scarce and recurrent drought led to desperation.
More recent governments have taken the axe to the more egregious schemes that encouraged people to destroy the rainforest.
This commodity is blamed for creating more greenhouse gases than it saves, and for destroying the rainforest habitat of orangutans.
In 2005, severe drought in the Amazon region saw widespread wildfires that turned the rainforest into a carbon source.
"We are going to come to know the rainforest from within, " Forestry Minister Antonio Carlos Hummel said announcing the inventory.
Also, Sting has designed some kind of overgrown ukulele that's friendly to the rainforest because it doesn't use much wood.
Kayaks are available for hire to explore the Pieman River and its tributaries, and several walking trails radiate out through the rainforest.
With fireflies flitting through the canopy layers and the night alive with the screeches and cries of unseen wildlife, the rainforest is a fairytale kingdom.
Chill with the howler monkeys and exotic butterflies while ziplining through the rainforest trees, or zoom down a river on a white-water raft.
This evidence has forced Chevron to hire some of the largest law firms in the world to fight five indigenous tribes in the rainforest.
Victor W. Hwang is a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and co-author of the book The Rainforest: The Secret to Building the Next Silicon Valley.
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Its 17 period-style cottages are edged against the rainforest, providing treehouse-like views into the canopy of myrtle beech, sassafras, laurel and celery top pine trees.
They are also dauntless defenders of the rainforest they call home.
Stucco inscriptions adorned monumental pyramids that crested over the rainforest canopy.
Green, who trained as a nuclear engineer at UC-Berkeley, started out doing fractal math to model ecological risk across huge biological systems such as the rainforest.
Not since a military government quartered the Amazon basin with roads, dams and settlements in the 1970s has Brazil seen such a row over the rainforest.
According to Mr Viana, their ambition was to change the way the rainforest was viewed: to make it an economic opportunity, not an impediment to progress.
The destruction of the rainforest I believe is a huge problem, as is the polar ice caps melting but it's good to see the problem being addressed.
Admittedly squeamish, I packed a tongue scraper so I could quickly flick them off, and I occasionally sought refuge on observation decks perched high in the rainforest canopy.
These contracts would have allowed Discover to explore for oil in places such as Madre de Dios in the rainforest region and Pisco in the coast of Peru.
The plan does not promote additional cutting of the rainforest.
According to the Rainforest Action Network, however, the injured ecosystem and human communities have not recovered and the spill continues to be the most damaging oil spill in history.
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