DURHAM, N.C. – Mark London, coauthor of The Last Forest: The Amazon in the Age of Globalization,an account of the conflict between economic development and environmental preservation in the Amazon, will speak at 91ÉçÇø¸£Àû at 4 p.m. April 12, in Love Auditorium at the Levine Science Research Center.

The talk is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences.  A reception and book signing will follow.

In The Last Forest, London and his coauthor Brian Kelly document the changes that have taken place in Brazil’s vast inland provinces since 1980, when they traveled to the region to write the groundbreaking book, Amazon, the first account ever written for a general audience of the destruction and deforestation taking place there.  

On that trip, London and Kelly were appalled to find that about three percent of the Amazon forest had already been lost. When they returned 25 years later to research The Last Forest, they found that 20 percent of the forest was gone.

Despite the staggering losses, London and Kelly nonetheless found positive signs in the ways Brazilians have been laboring to reconcile economic growth with environmental protection. They believe it is not too late to save the Amazon, although the solutions to deforestation are nearly as complex as the rainforest itself.

Through profiles of local environmentalists, ranchers, politicians and ordinary citizens, the writers take pains to present all sides of the conflict between the need to preserve much of the Amazon’s fragile ecosystem and the escalating worldwide pressures to develop its resources. 

Numerous Nicholas School faculty members and graduate students conduct research in the region, including studies on deforestation and habitat loss, endangered species, climate change, environmental justice, and community-based resource management.

In addition to working as an environmental journalist, London is a trial lawyer in Washington, D.C.  He is a graduate of Amherst College and the George Washington University Law School.

The Last Forest was published in 2007. Amazon was published in 1983. London and Kelly are also the authors of the 1989 book, The Four Little Dragons: Inside Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, an exploration of the developing economies of Asia.

The Levine Science Research Center is located on Science Drive on Duke’s West Campus.