The Parana family lives on a "floating house" near Iquitos, Peru. They rely on the Amazon, as many have for thousands of years as a source of life.

Thousands of delegates and groups from all over have now converged at the UN Headquarters in New York, for the 8th Forum on Indigenous Issues that are challenging rich cultures abroad.

The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council, with a mandate to discuss indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights.

Leaders from Peru presented a written emergency before the Permanent Forum, requesting support for the indigenous peoples of Amazonian Peru. If you haven't been following the news in South America, the Government of Peru has been blamed for ignoring land rights which are included in the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted in 2007.

The indigenous peoples have claimed that a current Free-Trade Agreement (adopted by Peru from the Bush Administration) will only benefit multinational oil, gas, timber and mining companies, and threaten their way of life, which revolves around the Amazon's precious water.

One of the most powerful ways to reach the masses and get a message across is through multimedia via the web, and the UN has utilized this medium by releasing a film by Rebecca Sommer, posted on their website. Click here to see the film.

It will be interesting to see what the outcomes of the UN Forum will be. Can it produce a greater vision and results? Will it deal with the issues of overdevelopment of native lands?

At the least it will give people a voice and raise awareness and maybe, just maybe, create some positive action.

"Children of the Rainforest" may see drastic changes in their domain. Are they prepared?

"Aguardiente" translates to "Firewater" which is derived form sugarcane and is an important part of Amazonian culture. Here a worker feeds stalks into a press which will produce a drink with serious kick.

The Three-toed Sloth's fur is actually colored by many types of algae which are vital to it's survival and the Amazon's complex mind-boggling ecosystem.