Supporting communities who live in the Amazon rainforest to use the forest sustainably will help to protect it for future generations
The river runs thick and wide, lined on both sides by deep green rainforests. In the distance, vast, grey graceful curtains of rain float over the horizon. Rain fills the river with freshwater, carried over vast distances. At places it is eight kilometres wide, a veritable sea of fresh water. When clouds stop pouring, the sun soaks up the monsoon bounty – from the river and from the rainforests – and sends more rain. The circle of life plays over and over again. This is the mighty Amazon – the greatest of all river systems on Earth, and by far the most majestic.
This single system empties one-fifth of all the freshwater that flows into the world's oceans. If the Earth had lungs, they would be the Amazon rainforest. And if it had pulmonary arteries, they would be the Amazon and its many tributaries and branches.
Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state in Brazil, is located at the confluence of the Rio Negro and the Amazon. It is 1,450km up the Amazon from the Atlantic Ocean.
From Manaus, it takes six hours by boat to Tumbira, a small village with a school, a church, and a football field (the three institutions of rural Brazil). Tumbira is also home to the field centre of the Amazon Sustainability Foundation (FAS).
The Amazon is over 1km wide here, but above and beyond the visible river system is another, gigantic, invisible, "river" system. An estimated 20bn tonnes of water vapour is released every day by the Amazon rainforests. Animated satellite pictures show a constant global flow of airborne water vapour from the Amazon along the tropics, which scientists say is a source of rainfall not just for South America, but the world.
Both these river systems are at risk. A parliamentary amendment to the forest code is thought to have led to a rise in deforestation, and a spate of recent murders of environmental activists and small farmers has shocked the world.
Deforestation is often blamed on three vital groups of stakeholders: big local business, local people and consumers. These are the people who benefit from the fields and farms the Amazon rivers irrigate. Big local business can look after its own interests. Global governments representing foreign consumers of the Amazon's services are beginning to put money on the table – Norway has set an example by committing a $1bn to Brazil for REDD+. That leaves the weakest stakeholders – local people – who clearly do need support, and this is beginning to be organised.
A sustainable future for the Amazonas state and conservation of its remarkable rainforest river systems is no small challenge. It needs multiple efforts on multiple fronts.
Read More:
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Rich Man Brazil
Richest Men of the World
Eike Batista (No. 8)
Source: Mining, oil
Citizenship: Brazil
Brazil's richest man is gearing up to take over the world. Making a play for foreign investors, Batista announced this year the opening of an office in New York and his intention to list some of his companies on the London Stock Exchange.
Through his holding company, EBX, Batista controls businesses spanning mining, shipbuilding, energy, logistics, tourism and entertainment. After months of discussions, he was triumphant in February in taking control of Canadian gold outfit Ventana. Two-thirds of his fortune comes from OGX, the oil and gas exploration company he founded in 2007 and took public a year later. He says the company will start producing oil this year. In rare recent setback, his planned IPO for his shipbuilding business (OSX), meant to be the world's largest IPO in 2010, was a disappointment and has had a lukewarm reception in the Brazilian market.
The son of Brazil's revered former mining minister, who presided over mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, got his start in gold trading and mining. Onetime champion offshore powerboat racer; formerly married to Playboy cover girl. In media interviews he's been warning Carlos Slim Helú that he'll soon take his spot as the world's richest man, but he still has a ways to go.
Richest Man Brazil
Eike Batista (No. 8)
Source: Mining, oil
Citizenship: Brazil
Brazil's richest man is gearing up to take over the world. Making a play for foreign investors, Batista announced this year the opening of an office in New York and his intention to list some of his companies on the London Stock Exchange.
Through his holding company, EBX, Batista controls businesses spanning mining, shipbuilding, energy, logistics, tourism and entertainment. After months of discussions, he was triumphant in February in taking control of Canadian gold outfit Ventana. Two-thirds of his fortune comes from OGX, the oil and gas exploration company he founded in 2007 and took public a year later. He says the company will start producing oil this year. In rare recent setback, his planned IPO for his shipbuilding business (OSX), meant to be the world's largest IPO in 2010, was a disappointment and has had a lukewarm reception in the Brazilian market.
The son of Brazil's revered former mining minister, who presided over mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, got his start in gold trading and mining. Onetime champion offshore powerboat racer; formerly married to Playboy cover girl. In media interviews he's been warning Carlos Slim Helú that he'll soon take his spot as the world's richest man, but he still has a ways to go.
Richest Man Brazil
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Anti aging rainforest fruits
You may think that the wondrous plants of the Amazon rainforest remain hidden from modern science, but their medicinal and energizing properties have not gone completely unnoticed.
The rainforest’s original inhabitants, the indigenous Indians, have been using the raw ingredients found in nature to heal, energize and improve their health and well-being. It may even have prolonged life.
The Western world is largely unaware of these rainforest treasures and their scientific benefits. But you are on the threshold of finding out what such discoveries can mean to you.
It will give you an advantage over others that are eating high-fat, high-carb diets that lead to obesity and a shortened lifespan. The life-giving juices and teas of the Amazon rainforest will make clear what the indigenous people of the Amazon have always known.
Anti aging rainforest fruits - Scientific background
The common factor in all the fruits, juices and teas of the Amazon is their content of antioxidants. Antioxidants are nature’s way of defending against chemicals and pollutants that threaten healthy cells every minute of the day. It is true of all living things, plants, animals and human beings.
Your body produces some antioxidants/enzymes quite naturally, but some can only be obtained from healthy foods.
Anti aging rainforest fruits - Antioxidant Enzymes
Naturally occurring enzymes perform billions of cell-saving operations in your body without exhausting themselves. Although your body will produce incredible amounts of antioxidant enzymes over your lifetime, it can be very slow to create new ones if your body is under siege. If your body is exposed to more pollutants than your antioxidant enzymes can destroy, your cells may be in trouble.
Certain fruits and plant-based foods contain antioxidants that your body can use over and above the body’s own antioxidant enzymes. For that reason it makes sense to consume a variety of the antioxidant rich botanicals every day. It is your body’s best defense against premature aging.
In addition to the antioxidant plants that you already know, grapes, blueberries, and green tea, here you will learn about some amazing rainforest plants poised to take the antioxidant world by storm.
There are fruits and teas that will give you energy and longer life - the ones from the rainforest. It is strange that they are not already well known in the Western world - why isn’t this already common knowledge? People in South America have used these plants for centuries, but the knowledge has been passed down from generation to generation orally - rather than in writing. This is particularly true among the people of the Amazon basin. Westerners simply have not had the opportunity to hear the stories.
Read More:Friday, January 7, 2011
Anti aging rainforest botanicals
You may think that the wondrous plants of the Amazon rainforest remain hidden from modern science, but their medicinal and energizing properties have not gone completely unnoticed.
The rainforest’s original inhabitants, the indigenous Indians, have been using the raw ingredients found in nature to heal, energize and improve their health and well-being. It may even have prolonged life.
The Western world is largely unaware of these rainforest treasures and their scientific benefits. But you are on the threshold of finding out what such discoveries can mean to you.
It will give you an advantage over others that are eating high-fat, high-carb diets that lead to obesity and a shortened lifespan. The life-giving juices and teas of the Amazon rainforest will make clear what the indigenous people of the Amazon have always known.
Scientific background
The common factor in all the fruits, juices and teas of the Amazon is their content of antioxidant's. Antioxidants are nature’s way of defending against chemicals and pollutants that threaten healthy cells every minute of the day. It is true of all living things, plants, animals and human beings.
Your body produces some antioxidants/enzymes quite naturally, but some can only be obtained from healthy foods.
Enzymes
Naturally occurring enzymes perform billions of cell-saving operations in your body without exhausting themselves. Although your body will produce incredible amounts of antioxidant enzymes over your lifetime, it can be very slow to create new ones if your body is under siege. If your body is exposed to more pollutants than your antioxidant enzymes can destroy, your cells may be in trouble.
Certain fruits and plant-based foods contain antioxidants that your body can use over and above the body’s own antioxidant enzymes. For that reason it makes sense to consume a variety of the antioxidant rich botanicals every day. It is your body’s best defense against premature aging.
In addition to the antioxidant plants that you already know, grapes, blueberries, and green tea, here you will learn about some amazing rainforest plants poised to take the antioxidant world by storm.
There are fruits and teas that will give you energy and longer life - the ones from the rainforest. It is strange that they are not already well known in the Western world - why isn’t this already common knowledge? People in South America have used these plants for centuries, but the knowledge has been passed down from generation to generation orally - rather than in writing. This is particularly true among the people of the Amazon basin. Westerners simply have not had the opportunity to hear the stories.
Researchers who have made it a point to learn about and listen to the traditional healers have had their research priorities laid out for them.
As more and more about the wondrous fruits and plants have become known, they have set about the task of analyzing their active components and examining them in ways that is credible to modern science.
In case after case it has been established that the oral stories of indigenous Indians are correct and that the fruits and teas indeed have properties that energize and help them lead a longer and healthier life.
Let’s focus on three: açai, cupuaçu, and yearba mate. They are not yet household names in the West, the Indians of South America have been using them for centuries. Once you learn about their real qualities you’ll want a chance to take advantage of their amazing properties too.
The rainforest’s original inhabitants, the indigenous Indians, have been using the raw ingredients found in nature to heal, energize and improve their health and well-being. It may even have prolonged life.
The Western world is largely unaware of these rainforest treasures and their scientific benefits. But you are on the threshold of finding out what such discoveries can mean to you.
It will give you an advantage over others that are eating high-fat, high-carb diets that lead to obesity and a shortened lifespan. The life-giving juices and teas of the Amazon rainforest will make clear what the indigenous people of the Amazon have always known.
Scientific background
The common factor in all the fruits, juices and teas of the Amazon is their content of antioxidant's. Antioxidants are nature’s way of defending against chemicals and pollutants that threaten healthy cells every minute of the day. It is true of all living things, plants, animals and human beings.
Your body produces some antioxidants/enzymes quite naturally, but some can only be obtained from healthy foods.
Enzymes
Naturally occurring enzymes perform billions of cell-saving operations in your body without exhausting themselves. Although your body will produce incredible amounts of antioxidant enzymes over your lifetime, it can be very slow to create new ones if your body is under siege. If your body is exposed to more pollutants than your antioxidant enzymes can destroy, your cells may be in trouble.
Certain fruits and plant-based foods contain antioxidants that your body can use over and above the body’s own antioxidant enzymes. For that reason it makes sense to consume a variety of the antioxidant rich botanicals every day. It is your body’s best defense against premature aging.
In addition to the antioxidant plants that you already know, grapes, blueberries, and green tea, here you will learn about some amazing rainforest plants poised to take the antioxidant world by storm.
There are fruits and teas that will give you energy and longer life - the ones from the rainforest. It is strange that they are not already well known in the Western world - why isn’t this already common knowledge? People in South America have used these plants for centuries, but the knowledge has been passed down from generation to generation orally - rather than in writing. This is particularly true among the people of the Amazon basin. Westerners simply have not had the opportunity to hear the stories.
Researchers who have made it a point to learn about and listen to the traditional healers have had their research priorities laid out for them.
As more and more about the wondrous fruits and plants have become known, they have set about the task of analyzing their active components and examining them in ways that is credible to modern science.
In case after case it has been established that the oral stories of indigenous Indians are correct and that the fruits and teas indeed have properties that energize and help them lead a longer and healthier life.
Let’s focus on three: açai, cupuaçu, and yearba mate. They are not yet household names in the West, the Indians of South America have been using them for centuries. Once you learn about their real qualities you’ll want a chance to take advantage of their amazing properties too.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Acai, the Amazon Super Fruit
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The first time I ever tried acai (pronounced: ah-sah-yee) in 1997, the fruit was served to me as a thick drink by an Ipixuna Indian woman, when I was living on the Amazon River for a month.
Acai, Euterpe oleracea, was as deep purple as any food I had ever seen. In fact, a spill stained a favorite t-shirt of mine, forever. I loved the rich flavor of acai, and the energy it imparted, and consumed as much as I could during the course of my time on the river.
When I left Brazil that time, I lamented that I’d probably never be able to obtain acai back home.
Times have changed, and this delicious fruit is now widely available, from Whole Foods to up-market grocery stores.
A so-called “super-berry” that grows on palms trees in the Amazon, acai is a staple food throughout Amazonia, and that status owes directly to its marvelous flavor.
Acai explodes with flavor, and gets better with every mouthful. Rich in the potent purple pigments called anthocyanins, acai has a higher antioxidant activity rating than bilberries or blueberries, and is rich in beneficial dietary fibers.
A glass of blended acai fruit, with just a slight touch of energizing guarana and certified organic sugar, imparts so much energy, you’ll want to dance and yodel while climbing a mountain at the same time.
No wonder endurance cyclists and ball players have taken to this fruit. Surfers, skateboarders, X-gamers and outdoor enthusiasts speak of acai with reverence.
The berry craze is on full throttle now, and purveyors of each berry – from blueberries to blackberries, black currants and elderberries – have positioned their berry as the ultimate. All of these berries are rich in the purple antioxidant pigments called anthocyanins, and all impart both antioxidant protection to cells, and anti-inflammatory activity as well. As far as I am concerned, they are all extraordinary foods, and are valuable in any person’s diet. I just happen to favor acai most of all, because I love the flavor and the fact that the acai trade is helping to reduce deforestation in some parts of the Amazon.
Forest Preservation - Fast-forward years later, once more in the Brazilian rainforest, this time in the company of Ryan Black, founder of Sambazon Acai. We are watching several hard-working Brazilians climb tall acai palms rapidly, cut branches laden with ripe purple acai berries, and strip the berries into baskets, readying them for processing.
“Our wildharvesting system was developed in conjunction with the Forest Sustainability Council,” Ryan explains. “We’ve taught people how to wildharvest acai, and protect the forest at the same time.” Through ecologically sound agro-forestry management practices, Sambazon has established a top-notch conservation program that protects the Amazon rainforest and minimizes habitat loss. On top of that, they’ve implemented a fair wage system that provides higher than average wages to over 10,000 families in Brazil’s Amapa state. Sambazon has won praise and support from World Wildlife Federation, The Nature Conservancy and Greenpeace. As far as Ryan Black is concerned, it’s all just a reasonable and fair way to operate a business. “Might as well do it right if you’re going to do it,” he says.
Read More:
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Highlights of Rivers in Amazon Rainforest
Rivers flowing through Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest appear tan from sediments and silvery from sun glint, giving them the appearance of lightning bolts slicing across the green landscape.
The Amazon rainforest is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America. This basin encompasses seven million square kilometers (1.7 billion acres), of which five and a half million square kilometers (1.4 billion acres) are covered by the rainforest.
See original complete with maps here
The Amazon rainforest is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America. This basin encompasses seven million square kilometers (1.7 billion acres), of which five and a half million square kilometers (1.4 billion acres) are covered by the rainforest.
See original complete with maps here
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Rainforest Sustainability is embedded in Sambazon
From acai berries to the Sustainable Amazon Partnership (SAP)
When brothers Jeremy and Ryan Black created the company Sambazon in 2000 they hit the proverbial mother lode. Sambazon makes juices, sorbet and smoothie packs from acai, berries that grow in Brazil's Amazon forests.
Although the company does not disclose sales, in 2008 they were estimated at $25 million. Sambazon's products are "sold in virtually every health food store, juice bar and convention grocery store in the U.S.," according to its website. Its products are sold at Whole Foods and supermarket chains such as Safeway and Giant.
Sambazon says its company was founded on sustainability, a claim it can back up. It was the first company to sponsor U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic certification for acai, and its supply chain is certified as Fair Trade. It works with Wild Wildlife Foundation (WWF) Brazil and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to ensure acai is harvested sustainably. Sambazon also built a factory in Amapa, Brazil that buys acai berries from over 10,000 independent family growers, and employs about 150 people, half in Brazil.
Sambazon was named a winner of the "Secretary of State's Award for Corporate Excellence" (A.C.E. Award) for a small-medium business in 2006. It was nominated by the U.S. Ambassador to Brazil. Then U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said Sambazon "is an outstanding example of the positive impact that a small company can make to the economy, the environment and the society of its host country."
Rice added, "Sambazon was selected for efforts to promote sustainable development in the Brasilian Rainforest, while improving the conditions of indigenous people through creative marketing of the açaí fruit."
Sambazon launched the Sustainable Amazon Partnership (SAP) as a "public and private collaboration to promote lasting sustainable management of the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest." Since launched, SAP has:
* Provided an alternative sustainable income source to logging, cattle and monoculture plantations
* Promoted sustainable development through environmental stewardship on over 1.9 million acres
* Supported women in local cooperative who make acai seed jewellery
* Established and monitored biosocial indicators to determine the impact of the acai trade
* Developed and implemented sustainability programs with local family farmers
Over one million acai seeds a day come out of processed fruit during harvest season. Sambazon uses the seeds as fuel for its Amapa factory and donates seeds to a nearby brick factory. Before Sambazon donated the seeds, the factory "would use virgin wood from the surrounding area to burn as fuel for the kilns," said factory owner Wagner Alonso Rodrigues.
Since using the donated seeds, the amount of rainforest wood burned by the factory has been reduced by almost 90 percent. "We have reduced our wood purchasing so drastically that now we save $US 250 a day burning seed instead of wood," said Rodrigues.
Read it here
The New Wellness Revolution
When brothers Jeremy and Ryan Black created the company Sambazon in 2000 they hit the proverbial mother lode. Sambazon makes juices, sorbet and smoothie packs from acai, berries that grow in Brazil's Amazon forests.
Although the company does not disclose sales, in 2008 they were estimated at $25 million. Sambazon's products are "sold in virtually every health food store, juice bar and convention grocery store in the U.S.," according to its website. Its products are sold at Whole Foods and supermarket chains such as Safeway and Giant.
Sambazon says its company was founded on sustainability, a claim it can back up. It was the first company to sponsor U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic certification for acai, and its supply chain is certified as Fair Trade. It works with Wild Wildlife Foundation (WWF) Brazil and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to ensure acai is harvested sustainably. Sambazon also built a factory in Amapa, Brazil that buys acai berries from over 10,000 independent family growers, and employs about 150 people, half in Brazil.
Sambazon was named a winner of the "Secretary of State's Award for Corporate Excellence" (A.C.E. Award) for a small-medium business in 2006. It was nominated by the U.S. Ambassador to Brazil. Then U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said Sambazon "is an outstanding example of the positive impact that a small company can make to the economy, the environment and the society of its host country."
Rice added, "Sambazon was selected for efforts to promote sustainable development in the Brasilian Rainforest, while improving the conditions of indigenous people through creative marketing of the açaí fruit."
Sambazon launched the Sustainable Amazon Partnership (SAP) as a "public and private collaboration to promote lasting sustainable management of the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest." Since launched, SAP has:
* Provided an alternative sustainable income source to logging, cattle and monoculture plantations
* Promoted sustainable development through environmental stewardship on over 1.9 million acres
* Supported women in local cooperative who make acai seed jewellery
* Established and monitored biosocial indicators to determine the impact of the acai trade
* Developed and implemented sustainability programs with local family farmers
Over one million acai seeds a day come out of processed fruit during harvest season. Sambazon uses the seeds as fuel for its Amapa factory and donates seeds to a nearby brick factory. Before Sambazon donated the seeds, the factory "would use virgin wood from the surrounding area to burn as fuel for the kilns," said factory owner Wagner Alonso Rodrigues.
Since using the donated seeds, the amount of rainforest wood burned by the factory has been reduced by almost 90 percent. "We have reduced our wood purchasing so drastically that now we save $US 250 a day burning seed instead of wood," said Rodrigues.
Read it here
The New Wellness Revolution
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