This book covers international treaties adopted by the Amazon States inter se since the end of the nineteenth century, when most of them attained independence from European colonial powers, until the present. It also includes nonbinding instruments, such as decisions, declarations, and plans of action, adopted under the aegis of subregional and regional organizations in which one or more Amazon States participate.

Most of the primary information related to the 1978 Amazon Cooperation Treaty (ACT) (for example, amendments, regulations, resolutions, presidential and ministerial declarations, minutes of meetings, etc.) can be found in successive publications of a document published by the Pro Tempore Secretariats of the ACT entitled “The Legal Basis of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty.” Judicial decisions on matters related to the environment or indigenous communities, issued by tribunals established under subregional and regional organizations (i.e. the Court of Justice of the Andean Community, Mercosur's Permanent Court of Appeal and Ad Hoc Tribunals, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights) are also examined here.

Apart from the information gathered at the library resources in Geneva, particularly at the United Nations library, other sources such as early bilateral treaties on boundaries and fluvial navigation among the Amazon States, or speeches delivered at the time of the adoption of the ACT, were collected at the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Federal Council of Justice (Conselho da Justiça Federal) in Brasília.