Leishmaniasis: the environment of disease —An overview— Abstract The paper attempts to encompass a variety of views concerning the complex nature of environment and its relation with disease, namely ATL (American Tegumentary Leishmaniasis). The ecology of transmission (vector, infective sources, vegetation) for ATL , as well as the distribution of the disease and its vector throughout the Valle River basin were studied. The innermost social setting brought about by the presence of ATL within the embera community was also closely studied, as it determines certin types of group interactions between the tribes people and their jaibaná, involving the concepts of knowledge-related authority and power. The basin is also considered as the geographical framework for food production and social multiplication of the group, wiht special emphasis given to the identification of native health facilities. Some comments are finally made on external interventions aimed at promoting health, as well as on existing social tensions in the Pacific Basin area, which has been considered to be an strategic zone in the last decade, as far as biodiversity goes.