The international legal system of the Amazon, as suggested in this study, comprises three categories of legal instruments related in some way to the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources of the whole or parts of the Amazon region. These categories involve both legally binding and nonbinding instruments. In addition to treaties, some decisions adopted by the Andean countries (Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru, which are also Amazon States) under the aegis of the Andean Community (CAN) are also examined here. These decisions are not only legally binding, but also directly applicable in CAN member States as of the date they are published in the agreement's Official Gazette.

The three categories mentioned above can be divided as follows. Under the first category are the legal instruments adopted by two or more Amazon States inter se for the protection of the Amazonian natural environment. These instruments include bilateral treaties, for example, the 1979 agreement on the Conservation of Flora and Fauna of the Amazonian Territories adopted between Colombia and Peru, or the 1978 Amazon Cooperation Treaty (ACT). The second category involves legal instruments adopted by two or more Amazon States with other States in the Latin American and Caribbean region, which do not necessarily address the Amazon in particular, but are applicable to all or parts of the Amazon, such as the 2001 Common Market of the South (Mercosur) Framework Agreement on the Environment, applicable in the Brazilian Amazon (as well as other Mercosur legal instruments).