Nafanua is the author"s account of the year he spent in a remote Samoan village researching medicinal plants. An eminent ethnobotanist, Cox succeeded in making some vital discoveries, including one that led to a drug now being tested for treatment of hepatitis and AIDS. He also launched an international campaign to save lowland rainforest from logging, and was honoured by village leaders with the title of the legendary Samoan goddess Nafanua. For his work in Samoa, Cox was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, considered to be the Nobel Prize for the Environment.