Rain Forest

in order to prevent the destruction of the Amazon and improve the quality of life for the people who live there, we need to embrace a wide range of sustainable and effective initiatives. This canonly be achieved if we find economic alternatives and solutions to destructive logging.
Rubber Tapping
Rubber tapping has been a traditional way of life for many people living in the Amazon forestsince the start of the century. It is not damaging to the forest as it does not require the tree to be cut down in order for the latex to be extracted.
As many as 63,000 families now earn their livingfrom rubber tapping in extractive reserves in the Amazon forest. These reserves cover up to one percent of the Amazon forest and were established by the Brazilian Government to allow the rubber tappersto maintain their traditional way of life. To date only 5,000 tons of rubber is extracted from the Amazon to supply 1.4 percent of the national market for rubber in Brazil. The National Council ofRubber Tappers is trying to address this imbalance.
Palm Fruits and Palm Hearts
The fruits of the Acai Palm found in the Amazon, are traditionally used to make a juice which is rich in minerals. Asingle palm tree produces up to 20 kg of fruit per year. The fruits produce a tasty, dark violet colored juice which is the most financially viable non-wood forest product from the Amazon's delta. In 1995almost 106,000 tons of wine was produced at a value of $40 million U.S. dollars.
Although the palm tree has to be felled in order to extract the palm hearts, the relative ease of replanting thetrees in the middle of the forest and their rapid regeneration make this a far preferable and sustainable alternative to large-scale logging. The biggest importers of palm hearts from the Amazon areFrance, Canada, the United States, Spain, Japan, Holland and Belgium.
Fruits and Nuts
The growing attraction towards new products from the Amazon, including vitamins, minerals, exotic fruits, nuts and...