I thank my colleagues and friends at Conservation International (CI) and the Noel Kempff Mercado Natural History Museum for their support over many years, which allowed me to acquire the experience and knowledge necessary to write this document. In particular, I thank Larry Gorenflo who coauthored Chapter 5; Keith Alger, and Rosimeiry Portela for providing information on natural resources economics and human societies; Marc Steininger, Lisete Correa, Liliana Soria, Belen Quezada, Else Ana Guerra, Veronica Calderon, Miki Calzada, and Grady Harper for assistance on remote sensing and land-use change; Kellee Konig, Mark Denil, and Daniel Juhn for expertise in cartography and GIS; Ben Vitale, Sonal Pandya, and Laura Ledwith for reviewing the text on carbon trading mechanisms; Free de Koning, Jordi Surkin, and Robert Bensted-Smith for policy issues in the Andes; Isabella Freire and Paulo G. Prado for insight into Brazilian development and conservation; and Lisa Famalore for providing important information on Suriname and Guyana. Suzanne Zweizig provided exceptional editorial expertise and Glenda P. Fábregas greatly improved the final publication with her good taste in graphic design. Special recognition is owed to Gustavo Fonseca who commissioned the study and recognized the significance of IIRSA’s impact on the world’s greatest tropical wilderness and Alfredo Ferreyos who provided important support at a key stage during the development of the document. Phillip Fearnside and Susan B. Hecht provided external reviews of the manuscript. This document is essentially an extensive literature review covering multiple topics and would not have been possible without the work of dozens of biologists, ecologists, geographers, economists, and social scientists who have dedicated their lives to understanding the Amazon, Cerrado, and Andes. My ability to understand their insights is a result of having the good fortune to live in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, which is simultaneously an Andean country, situated within the Amazon basin, and biogeographically part of the Cerrado. CI is fortunate to have had the support of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Moore Family Foundation, and the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund over the last several years. This publication is also supported by Ann Friedman, who provided the funds to produce this work in Spanish and Portuguese.