Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
keep it standing. A perfect example of the latter is the case of Belém; the largest city in
the Amazon is surrounded by extensive areas of intact flood-plain forest. This is because
there is massive demand for
açaí
, a palm fruit central to Amazonian cuisine, and palm
heart. Both are locally consumed in large quantities, but also preserved, packed and
exported to the rest of Brazil and the world. Both products come from flood-plain
palm forests and, as a result, vast areas of flood-plain forest are preserved. Because
gathering these forest products can never be mechanized, tens of thousands of
livelihoods are assured, and the industry is sustainable. Overharvesting does not
happen because everyone knows the level of production the ecosystem can sustain,
and that they would shortly be out of a job if they went beyond it.
But this is only half the story. Gathering palm products is a living, but there is not
much money in it - or wasn't. In the early 1990s
DaimlerBenz
was looking for a way
to reassure its German shareholders of its environmental responsibility. The R&D
department discovered compressed fibres from Amazon palms could be used to stuff
upholstery and also to make a material from which sunshields could be manufactured.
They hooked up with the local university in Belém, which brokered a series of contracts
with cooperatives in Marajó to supply and process palm fibre, creating what by local
standards are scores of well-paid jobs. Everybody won: the local people, the local
university (which gets a cut of each contract), the foreign corporation, the Brazilian
consumer in southern Brazil driving the car, and, most of all, the environment. The
Marajó villagers are now going to the university for help in reforesting deforested areas -
because it makes economic sense.
So far these are isolated success stories, but they are part of a trend. Other companies
looking to the Amazon to source products include Pirelli, which is producing tyres in
southern Brazil with Acrean rubber, and Hermès, the French luxury-goods firm, which
is using
couro vegetal
, a form of latex treated to look and feel like leather, to make
handbags and briefcases. Even big companies investing in the Amazon, like
Cargill
and
Alcoa
, are looking to minimize potential damage to their reputations by setting up
compensation funds and managing their supply chains to reduce environmental impact.
The principles underlying this sea change are clear. First, long-term success
usually lies in satisfying
local and regional demand
, not the export market. Brazilian
ecotourism grew in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, for example, because of
the drop in international, especially American, travellers. Second, interventions are
often necessary: partly the removal of subsidies that reward destruction, now largely
accomplished, but also incentives to encourage more environmentally friendly land use.
A recent example is the national credit programme for family farms, PRONAF, which
established a credit line for small Amazonian farmers who want to do agro-forestry,
rather than straight farming, with subsidized rates of repayment. Thousands have so
far taken it up. If this can be increased to tens or hundreds of thousands, it could
transform the scene in the rural Amazon.
The economics of change
The other principles of change are more controversial. First, it is always going to make
economic sense for certain parts of the Amazon to be
dedicated to production
,
not
conservation. No country refuses to develop rich mineral deposits, or blocks investments
in commercial agriculture with high rates of return. The choice is not whether to develop,
but where development takes place and whether the environmental movement has any
influence in channelling and controlling it. Looking at the broader picture, it makes
better political and economic sense to accept the more controllable form of development -
capitalism - in areas already degraded, and thus ensure the frontier fills out rather than
moves on to new areas where the damage would be much greater.
Finally, it needs to be recognized that many parts of the Amazon, because of their
remoteness or lack of marketable resources, are never going to be able to generate
income or jobs. These areas do however provide valuable
environmental services
: their
