Anna Lewington is a well-known writer and researcher who specializes in ethnobotany: the uses people make of plants. She has conducted research in Peru, Ecuador, Brazil and Chile, and has a wide knowledge of the (often controversial) industrial uses of the world's plants - from GM soya beans to the endangered wild species used in some herbal medicines. Anna has worked for many different organizations, from the World Wide Fund for Nature to the British Government, and took part in BBC TV's first 'Rough Science' series.
Anna has a long-standing interest in the indigenous people and cultures of Latin America, and her study of the uses people make of plants began with the Machiguenga Indians of southeast Peru, and their most important food plant - cassava. She has also worked with rubber tappers in Brazil, the indigenous people of Chile's Atacama desert, and Andean communities.
Anna's other books include ANCIENT TREES (a collaboration with her photographer husband Edward Parker), an ATLAS OF RAINFORESTS, ANTONIO'S RAINFOREST and five other educational books for children.