Weigh up the potential benefits and drawbacks of Peru opening up and developing its Amazon region.

Peru's government, like those in other emerging economies, sees development of minerals and timber as the fastest way to lift the country out of poverty, particularly in the country's largely untouched Amazon region. In Peru, land ownership is private, but the government has full rights to the resources below ground — such as minerals, oil, and gas — and above it — such as water, fish, and timber. In 2007, President Garcia infamously dismissed what he called "the law of the dog in the manger, which says, 'If I do not do it, then let no one do it.'" Without the state to give out concessions, Garcia wrote, the land would remain undeveloped, with "unused resources that cannot be traded, that do not receive investment, and do not create jobs."

But indigenous groups and communities in the Amazon fear the government is engaged in a large-scale giveaway of their land to industry at the expense of their cultural heritage. "For the indigenous people, the land is sacred, but in [Western culture] the land is simply a resource," said Roger Rumrill, an expert on the Amazon's indigenous communities. The government recently created new concessions that would open up 70 percent of the Amazon to oil and gas exploration, though many of these concessions haven't been given out yet.