"It's a very easy way for them to give value to their world", says Paul, as his pupils carefully release endangered turtles into a safe part of the magnificent Jauperi river. Through simple lessons, the children see clearly what the lifting of the fishing ban could mean for their small community. They prepare posters and speeches for a meeting with the environmental authorities. And they open their parents' eyes: “It’s a duty to guarantee something for your future", says an emotional Paul, "You must”.

“Before I met Paul and Bianca I used to destroy everything", says one of the locals, "I killed the turtles, I cut the trees down". He goes along to the makeshift school known as 'Vivamazonia' with his children. Because in an area completely neglected by the government, few can read or write. And British couple Paul and Bianca have to make all teaching resources from scratch: "we started with a piece of paper", Bianca laughs.

Eventually the local authorities recognised the little school and started sending resources. But the gesture served to prove the very different needs of the children of the rainforest. "They couldn't relate to the city images in the textbooks". They made their own brightly-coloured adventure stories about the forest and the wildlife. They found fractions in rivers, and history in their ever-changing natural world. "If there are so many fish," asks one young girl preparing for the meeting, "then where are our jarachi, our tucanare, our aruana?"

"There is great fear of an invasion from fishing boats on the river", says Paul, "we have very little time". Yet five days before the meeting, it is cancelled by email. So the people living on the river meet anyway. They put up their posters and discuss their fears. They write a petition to the Federal Government asking for an extension on the fishing ban, and four months later it is approved. Yet fishing continues to be carried out illegally. "I am poor, I have nothing to leave my children", says one father, "but I have to leave them this”. A timeless and heartwarming portrait of the people that have most to lose from our ailing world.