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Report 6 (of 6): Coconuts
to Cars - Brazil
Introduction
The Amazon Basin is perhaps the largest
and best known region of tropical rainforest in the
world, spreading across Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador,
Venezuela, Peru and Bolivia. The forest is a place
of global importance and home to a wide variety of
natural resources.
Many people living in the Amazon Basin
are poor. They rely on the forest for alternatives
to timber. Non-timber Forest Products (NTFPs) such
as nuts, fruits, oils and resins provide income but
have traditionally been harvested using unsustainable
methods. The ability to market these Amazonian products
successfully, taking into account consumer preferences
for sustainable production, can make a big difference
in improving the livelihoods of rural communities.
Bolsa Amazonia is a regional programme
for the Amazon Basin countries, dedicated to sustainable
development of the region's communities and conservation
of the natural resources. Created in 1998 in partnership
with BIOTRADE, it is an initiative of the United Nations
Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and
POEMA, the Brazilian programme on poverty and environment
in the Amazon Basin.
The Bolsa Amazonia Projects
The objective of the Bolsa Amazonia
programme is to promote sustainable use of Amazonian
natural resources, while reducing poverty among indigenous
people. Products are promoted that give producers
and processors improved incomes, and consumers get
a product that is guaranteed environmentally friendly.
The programme is currently active
in Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia and is expanding
to Peru and Venezuela. Bolsa Amazonia has established
close links with communities, the private sector and
governments through partnerships that foster community
development and ecological conservation in the region.
The programme works with forest communities
in production right through to the marketing of products.
This includes improved methods of cultivation and
production, small-scale processing, capacity building,
training, provision of technical and marketing information,
and the identification of suitable markets.
Training is provided in:
- Marketing, including business
planning, costing, packaging and forecasting
- Processing fish, banana
and dairy products, including hygiene and safety
- Organisation and management,
including co-operatives, administration and accounting
- Sustainable resource use
- sustainable agriculture, subsistence cropping,
seed production, and cultivation and collection
of forest products.
Marketing Products
The Bolsa Amazonia programme builds
linkages between small-scale producers and buyers
of Amazonian products that would otherwise be very
difficult. Without these linkages, processors have
nowhere to market their products, consumers are unaware
of goods that are available and product harvesting
remains unsustainable. Amazonian products are marketed
under the fair trade, organic and natural banners
to meet consumer demand. To reach these markets, strict
production and processing guidelines are followed
and commercial promotion is necessary. Bolsa Amazonia
organises marketing training for processors and helps
to advertise and promote the products.
A marketing information system database
known as SIMBA has been developed to represent producers,
processors and national and international businesses
interested in Amazon products. The 'supply and demand'
database informs buyers about who is producing what,
and where, and is a starting point for companies who
are interested in doing business. Approximately 350
products, 100 buyers and 100 producers are registered
on the SIMBA database.
Many different products are registered
on the database, divided into categories:
- raw materials, including fruits
and seeds
- handicrafts
- paper
- cosmetics
- oils
- natural medicines
- coconut fibre products
- processed foods, including fruit
pulps, fruit juice, flour and honey.
Star Products
Star products are guaranteed by Bolsa
Amazonia to have the capacity to meet demands in accordance
with the principles of ecological and sustainable development.
They are produced to the standards of hygiene required
by the market. They are promoted at national and international
fairs and all profits from sales have been brought back
to the producers' associations.
The açaí palm (Euterpe oleracea) is
found throughout the Amazon Region and grows naturally
in flooded areas of the várzea forests and igapós,
or in higher terrain when cultivated. It occurs throughout
the entire Brazilian Amazon, with major production
taking place in the State of Pará where concentrations
of species are greatest.
The açaí palm grows in native plantations
and was under threat due to the extent of palm-heart
consumption (when the whole tree is cut to collect
its heart). The palm can be used in a sustainable
way through the management of the açaizais or açaí
ecosystem. Traditionally açaí was collected and sold
as fresh fruit in local markets, but this brought
low economic returns. The sale of fruit pulp in the
form of a naturally nutritious drink has made it a
more profitable enterprise.
Seventeen Brazilian communities formed
a producers association to organise their production
and became the owners of a modern processing plant
where the Açaí Poema da Amazonia beverage is produced.
The açaí beverage provides energy, around 182.4 cal/100g.
It also has high levels of calcium and phosphorus,
which makes açaí extremely nutritious.
Farinha de Banana is banana flour made
up of dehydrated green bananas. It is ground for preparing
porridge, milkshakes, cakes, pancakes, cookies, etc.
for lunches in schools, hospitals, restaurants or snack
bars.
The dehydration process used to make
banana flour involves: washing fruit; immersing it
in a heated tank; removing skins; slicing bananas;
drying them on trays; grinding into powder, weighing
and packaging.
Banana flour is sustainably produced
using agro-forestry systems that combine crops in
the same areas, enabling the recovery of degraded
land through reforestation and soil protection.
The commercialisation of Banana Flour
Poema da Amazônia contributes to the improvement of
the livelihoods of rural communities. More than 16
communities are involved in the cultivation and processing
of the fruit in six different food-processing plants.
The production of banana flour reduces post-harvesting
losses of fresh bananas and is made into a value-added
product with better returns for producers.
Traditionally, coconut husks were burned
or discarded. Their reuse has helped to show how the
sustainable use of forest resources can preserve the
Amazon while providing numerous sources of income. Coconut
fibre and latex (produced from rubber trees) products
are biodegradable and can be recycled. In Brazil, rubber
tappers have been recognised for their struggle to preserve
the Amazon by ensuring that rubber extraction is a sustainable
activity.
Coconut fibre and latex pots are both
recyclable and biodegradable. Substituting xaxim (an
orchid, specifically the giant samambaia) for coconut
fibre contributes towards the preservation of the
giant samambaia, an endangered plant species.
The pots are aerated to allow the
plant to grow, with high water retention. They contain
nutrients for the roots of the plant and can be successfully
replanted without removing the plant from the pot.
The extraction and processing of the
coconut fibre involves more than 5,000 families from
the Island of Marajo and north-eastern Pará. Organised
within producer associations and seven agro-industries,
they sell the products directly to Poematec Industry,
a partnership between POEMA and the motor company,
DaimlerChrysler. The commercialisation of gardening
products provides a source of income for communities
and an incentive to use recyclable and alternative
materials. The demand for latex as a raw material
for various industrial applications has given a new
impetus to the production of latex.
The consumption of paper is one of
the causes of global deforestation. The Amazon Paper
project illustrates the possibility of finding non-wood
alternatives while promoting uses for non-timber forest
products such as fibres, particularly as a means of
substituting synthetic products.
Amazon Paper brings together ancestral
oriental art and traditional Amazonian knowledge to
produce a hand-made paper that is entirely made from
natural resources - fibres, dyes, fragrances, leaves
and flowers. The main fibre from which the pulp is
extracted is curauá. It is mixed with other materials
to obtain a wide array of papers in a range of colours,
textures, and thicknesses.
The cultivation of the curauá (Ananas
erectifolius) plant, and the extraction and paper-making
processes involve many communities as common production
units. Paper production, from cultivation to the final
product, is performed in a sustainable manner, and
income generated from the sale of the fibre and other
food crops benefits local families to improve their
income and quality of life.
Biodiversity and Poverty Reduction
Rural communities are the beneficiaries
of the Bolsa Amazonia programme; traditional forest
dwellers, subsistence farmers, and 'riberinhos'
(people living on the riverbanks). Amazon basin countries
are home to the poorest and most vulnerable fringes
of the population. Often they lack the most basic
services such as healthcare, water, sanitation and
education. These communities live in isolated family
units in remote locations, relying on agro-extraction
and fishing for survival.
The foundation of Bolsa Amazonia is
based on understanding the links between biodiversity
conservation and poverty reduction. Conservation of
tropical forest is encouraged through a combination
of agro-forestry systems, natural resource management
and the development of sustainable productive chains.
Forest people's livelihoods have improved through
the development of economic activities that generate
income by adding value to products. Local employment
has increased, producers are being integrated into
larger production chains and trade is increasingly
on an equitable basis.
The project contributes to improved
food security as agro-forestry encourages crop diversification.
Some crops are used for home consumption, some are
processed and others are sold. Income generated through
these means has been re-invested in local housing,
electrical appliances and other amenities.
Lessons Learned
Uniting local knowledge of the forest,
simple management techniques and appropriate technologies
to regenerate degraded areas, further destruction
of forest is avoided. Making information available
and accessible is also crucial. The SIMBA database
brings together producers, processors and buyers so
they can interact within a virtual marketplace.
The creation of close working partnerships
among public institutions, non-governmental organisations
and private enterprises has been fundamental to the
success of the Bolsa Amazonia programme. It is effective
in influencing public policies, presenting new models
for credit and investment programmes and providing
opportunities for foreign direct investment in sustainable
development initiatives.
Bolsa Amazonia believes in lobbying
and advocacy efforts, to use trade as a means of promoting
sustainable development. Trade in biological resources
and other environmental services and products has
brought awareness to major economic players who are
becoming more socially and environmentally responsible.
For further information, please contact:
Dr. Maria de Nazaré Imbiriba
General Secretary of the Bolsa Amazonia
Casa do POEMA
Universidade Federal do Pará
CEP 66075-900
Belém, Pará Brazil
Tel. +55 91 211 1686/91 259
3423
Fax +55 91 259 3423
Email: secgeral@bolsaamazonia.com
Website: http://www.bolsaamazonia.com/
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Federal University of Pará
- Professional Sector, House of POEMA
Caixa Postal 8606
Belém, Pará
Brazil 66075-900
Tel. +55 91 259 3423/211 1686
Fax +55 91 259 3423/211 1687
Email: contatos@bolsaamazonia.com.br
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Websites
www.fao.org/forestry/FOP/FOPW/NWFP/new/nwfp.htm
The FAO's Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFP) website
has information on every aspect of NWFP, from activities,
publications (some listed below), country information
and links to other sites of interest.
Further Reading
Books with underlined titles can be
downloaded for free from the website shown. Others
can be ordered from the relevant organisation.
EarthPrint Books
Income generation from non-wood
forest products in upland conservation
US$11, FAO Conservation Guides, ISBN: 9251038465
Marketing information systems for
non-timber forest products
US$14, FAO (2000), Part of Community Forestry Field
Manual Series
Food and Agricultural Organisation
(FAO) Books
Marketing information systems for
non-timber forest products
Part of Community Forestry Field Manual Series 6
US$14, FAO, 2000
This book can be purchased from FAO or EarthPrint
Marketing in forestry and agroforestry
by rural people
Free FAO Job#: W6667, 1996
IUCN - World Conservation Union Books
Economic Value of Non-Timber Forest
Products in Southeast Asia
Second edition, Jenne H. de Beer and Melanie J. McDermott
ISBN 90 75909 01 2, 1996
Non-timber Forest Products: Value,
use and management issues in Africa, including examples
from Latin America
Edited by S. A. Crafter, J. Awimbo and A. J. Broekhoven
ISBN 2 8317 0317 4, 1997
Based on a pan-African workshop that was held in Naro
Moru, Kenya, on 8-13 May 1994, to analyse the viability
of extraction of NTFPs in Africa and improve knowledge
and understanding of the role and potential of NTFPs
in forest conservation. It gives a synthesis of workshop
discussions, and also includes country overviews of
NTFP use from 15 countries.
Non-Timber Forest Products from
the Tropical Forests of Africa: A bibliography
Compiled by Harry van der Linde and Esther van Adrichem
ISBN 90 75909 03 9, 1997
Provides an overview of available literature on non-timber
forest products in the tropical forests of Africa
which include the tropical lowland forests, swamp
forests, montane forests and mangroves of West, Central
and East Africa and Madagascar.
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