The market oriented systematic harvest of non-timber forest products is reputed to be a potentially significant element in strategies for rainforest conservation, which also contributes to improvement of the living conditions of the local population. This study examines the development of the rubber and Amazon nut economy of northern Bolivia and the contiguous Brazilian state of Acre. It is argued that an understanding of the annual agro-extractive cycle, which includes rubber-tapping, Amazon nut gathering and agriculture, as well as the organizational framework under which such activities are carried out, is crucial to an assessment of sustainability. The current development of the extractive economy in the region, which is marked by the collapse of the rubber trade, is examined from a political ecology perspective. This provides a framework for an assessment of development alternatives that have been proposed, the extractive reserves in the case of Brazil, and possible 'democratization of the Brazil nut economy' in the Bolivian case. The analysis suggests that the conventional criteria for sustainable development - ecological sustainability, economic feasibility and social acceptability - may be difficult to reconcile under the present economic system. The present study was carried out in cooperation with the Programa Manejo de Bosques de la Amazonia Boliviana (PROMAB) of the Utrecht University Department of Plant Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and made possible through support from the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO) and the Tropenbos Foundation.