Don Ignacio Duri lives in the native community of Infierno, Tambopata, Peru. Located in the Southern Tropical Andes, Infierno is at the edge of the buffer zone of the Tambopata-Candamo National Reserve and the Bajuaja-Sonene National Park, inside the Vilcabamba-Amboró corridor.

Infierno lies at the heart of one of the richest and most diverse rain forests on Earth making Don Ignacio's home a “biodiversity hotspot.” It is characterized by an especially high number of endemic species, while its remaining habitat represents less than 1 percent of the Earth's land surface. Dr. Norman Myers, the scientist who developed the criteria for biodiversity hotspots in 1988, called the Tropical Andes the “global epicenter of biodiversity.”

The Tropical Andes surpasses most other hotspots when it comes to species diversity and uniqueness. It is a storehouse of an estimated 45,000 to 50,000 plant species, 20,000 of which are endemic – entirely dependent on the region for their survival – representing approximately 15 percent of the global total. The number of bird species are unequaled in the world, totaling 1,666 species of which 677 are endemic. Species diversity and endemism among amphibians and reptiles are even greater than the numbers for plants and birds. The figures for mammals, terrestrial vertebrates and fish are all equally worthy of note. It is clear that the Tropical Andes qualifies as a priority biodiversity hotspot.

Within this “global epicenter” the traditional lifestyle, the embodiment of ecosystem stewardship, is threatened by ineffective management of protected areas, mercury toxicity from gold mining, uncontrolled logging, hydrocarbon development, and now the construction of the Interoceanic Highway with its associated dam construction and influx of migrants unfamiliar with living in a rain forest habitat. Don Ignacio Duri's native community is endangered. To save this rich and complex heritage from the irreversibility of extinction the voices of indigenous shamans – trustees of this valuable legacy – must be heard.

Voice of the Amazonian Rain Forest offers a repository for the knowledge found in this priority biodiversity hotspot encoded in Don Ignacio's stories, myths and songs. They are stories of interconnectedness, that promote an appreciation and respect for the richness and complexity of the shamanic oral tradition of this region and what it can teach us about living sustainably within an ecosystem.