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Brazil nuts become a sustainable lifeline for Amazon craftspeople

Photo: istockphoto.com/helenemunro

In the Amazon rain forest in northern Brazil, a group of craftspeople—the castanheiros, or "nut gatherers"—practices a sustainable form of economic activity: harvesting Brazil nuts without harming the forest. The Brazil nut tree can only grow in a vibrant forest with a healthy top layer of foliage. The castanheiros maintain their economic lifeline by only gathering the nuts of very old trees, without cutting them down.

Nearly a decade ago, Maria Helena Costa de Souza and 10 other women in the Vila Maracá community, deep in the Amazon jungle, founded the Agroextractivist Women's Association of Maracá to process the Brazil nut locally. ("Agroextractivist" refers to someone in the Amazon who lives sustainably off the land.) Today, thanks to Association members' entrepreneurship, the castanheiros not only collect the nuts but sell their own cookies, biscuits and candy in nearby towns. With the increased income, more than 100 families send their children to school while continuing to live in the rain forest. And thanks to their work, Brazil has a healthier rain forest—and a healthier model of economic development.

"The indigenous communities in the Amazon are absolutely crucial for the preservation of forests and ecosystems," says Mauricio de Almeida Voivodic of the Brazilian Institute of Agriculture and Forest Management. "Their use of natural resources, and the way they depend on and protect forests, can be taken as an example of a sustainable model of development."