"Being based in the Dyfi Valley, it's not easy to find many destinations more beautiful than home. But travelling abroad for up to several months at a time, every year or so, has been a central part of my work for over 20 years.

I had already travelled in South America during my gap year and made a short ethnographic documentary in the Amazon for the BBC by the time I began writing for the Rough Guides in 1984. Specialising in Peru and Brazil, I am presently working on the 7th edition of both books.

But what took me to Peru, as a young man back in the 1970's, was the call of ancient civilisations. I had always been fascinated by the castles of Wales, enjoying imaginary visions of how things had been almost 1000 years earlier in time.

When I read about the Inca and pre-Inca civilisations I had to get out and see their remains for myself. As it turned out, I ended up in the Amazon with an indigenous community for my 19th birthday.

It was then that I realised it wasn't so much the stones and ceramics of past cultures that interested me. My passion was to try and grasp what was in the mind of the ancient peoples as they built these fabulous citadels and created these treasures.

My realisation was that these ancient minds were still very much alive in the remote indigenous communities of the world's biggest rainforest.

My work today, through Ecotribal (see website on the right of this page), encompasses this passion and attempts to encourage sustainable livelihood for remote tribal communities.

In collaboration with Amazon communities, Ecotribal presently offers small-group eco-cultural tours to the rainforest and Machu Picchu, Amazon tree planting (for agro-forestry and carbon emissions mitigation) and trade in crafts and produce like coffee and medicines.

Early in 2008, Ecotribal have collaborated with the Ashaninka tribe and a UK charity - Cool earth - to encourage the Ashaninka to protect their forests from loggers, an increasing and very serious threat to them in the 21st century.

This year, for the first time ever, the Ashaninka have received economic reward for saving their forests. The forest - a living store of carbon, nourished by sun and rain - is the tribe's most important resource.

As well as being a carbon store, it also performs significant carbon sequestration functions. This perfectly positions the Ashaninka to operate small-scale carbon management service, utilizing their main resource to allow us (energy users) to mitigate at least some of our emissions.

Article by Dilwyn Jenkins