Natural News - May 1999

Amazonian Herb Research

IQUITOS, Peru—Providing a home to nearly half of all species on this planet, the Amazon rainforest is unrivaled in its diversity of flora and fauna—more than 50,000 plant species have been identified here, including many medicinal varieties.

A small, non-profit research center located 100 miles north of here offers visitors the chance to see these plants in their native environment. The Amazon Center for Environmental Education & Research (ACEER), founded in 1991, supports and conducts scientific research to conserve the rainforest's biodiversity and better understand its many facets. The center is located on a small corner of the Amazon Reserve, a 250,000-acre milieu of old-growth rainforest. It includes a research lab and an ethnobotanical garden as well as a treetop walkway that spans more than one-quarter mile. The combination of facilities allows scientists to study previously undiscovered ecosystems.

To date, international research teams visiting ACEER have studied a variety of subjects ranging from water and energy balances in the rainforest and the diversity of canopy epiphytes to plant medicines and shamanistic healing techniques.

ACEER can be reached at Ten Environs Park, Helena, AL 35080.

—Lisa Anne Marshall