Sambazon PowerCaps

Packed with wholefood nutrition, Sambazon’s Açaí PowerCaps offer a powerful boost of antioxidants in your daily diet. And what’s more important than staying healthy as we head into the festive holiday season?

Made with 100% pure organic and freeze dried açaí, Sambazon’s supplements are the most nutritious you’ll find on the market.

So don’t be confused with any açaí supplement blends, products that look pink instead of dark purple, or conventionally grown açaí.

Stick with the original Sambazon Brand from the Rainforest of Brazil, for the freshest, most nutritious, organic açaí on the market.

Sambazon Becomes First to Achieve Fair-Trade Crop Certification for Acai

Sambazon, the leading global supplier of acai, announces the certification of its acai crop as Fair Trade in Brazil. The certification by Ecocert, a global control and certification organization, guarantees that Sambazon ensures fair labor conditions and wages for workers, promotes environmentally sustainable farming methods and reinvests money into the community.

Sambazon's certification occurs in conjunction with Fair Trade Month, which promotes and celebrates the socially responsible system of trade that prioritizes the needs of human beings and the environment over the drive for profits. The certification supports all three pillars of Sambazon's triple bottom line business model (people-planet-profits) by guaranteeing that the agro-forestry farms and the families who supply Sambazon with acai fruit receive a fair market price.

The company commitment to this mission is evidenced in its Sustainable Amazon Partnership (SAP), which Sambazon founded with the Brazil Foundation and the Peabiru Institute to ensure the lasting sustainable management of the acai regions and communities. In addition to acai training programs, the partnership also offers alternative income-generating activities for thousands of woman, youth and small family farmers.

"By promoting triple bottom line success, these families are proving the case for sustainable development in the Amazon," said Ryan Black, Sambazon co-founder and CEO. "Through Sambazon Acai, we're bringing long-term development and improved quality of life to an impoverished region."

In 2003, Sambazon was the first company in its category to certify its acai crop as organic, and many other companies have since followed suit. A similar trend with Fair Trade would represent a win for all the stakeholders in the acai supply chain -- from the farmers to the consumers.

About Sambazon

Sambazon is the global leader in Acai. Founded in 2000 as the first company to bring the antioxidant-rich Acai berry from the Amazon to North America, Sambazon's mission is to deliver high quality, organic acai products to the planet. Sambazon's product line of Organic Acai Juice and Smoothies, Frozen Acai Smoothie Packs and Sorbets, Acai Supplements are enjoyed by world-class athletes and health-conscious consumers everywhere. Products are available at major retail stores and juice bars across North America including Whole Foods, Wild Oats, Super Target, Safeway, HEB, Albertsons, Vitamin Shoppe, Jamba Juice and Juice It Up! Sambazon is also a leader among organic foods and sustainable agriculture. In November of 2006, Sambazon was named a winner of the Secretary of State's Award for Corporate Excellence for helping to create worldwide awareness and demand for the acai fruit. Sambazon pioneered the first of its kind Fair Trade and Certified Organic supply chain of Acai which benefits thousands of local families and protects the biodiversity of the Amazon Rainforest through sustainable agriculture. Sambazon is the largest vertically integrated supplier and marketer of Acai products, controlling every step of the manufacturing process to ensure sustainable and organic origin of the fruit as well as the highest level quality, nutrition, taste. To learn more about Sambazon Acai and creating positive change in the Amazon and beyond please visit

Independent Review Highlights the True Costs of Belo Monte Dam

What would be the true environmental, social, and economic costs of Belo Monte Dam? New studies by a group of independent experts have highlighted the serious consequences the dam would have for the region, its inhabitants, and ecosystems of the Amazon rainforest.

Belo Monte, which with an installed generating capacity of 11,231 MW would be the world's third largest dam, and its complex array of two powerhouses, artificial canals, huge dykes, two reservoirs, spillways, ports, roads, and work camps would devastate more than 1,500 sq km of the Xingu River region of the central Brazilian Amazon.

The vast mosaic of indigenous reserves and protected areas of the Xingu would be in harm's way, and according to the experts, more than double the official figure of 19,000 people would likely have to moved to make way for the dam. A 100 km stretch of what is known as the "Big Bend" of the Xingu (number one on the map) would dry up when most of the Xingu's flow is diverted to the power house (casa de força).

Opposition has been growing since the first Xingu indigenous gathering in Altamira in 1989 and the second protest in 2008, and recently activists and community leaders met with President Lula to voice their concerns. Lula promised to review the project.

But, a strong police presence at recent public hearings on Belo Monte, and the government's insistence on offering the concession for Belo Monte by year's end have made it clear that Brazil is determined to push forward with the dam no matter what the cost.

The Belo Monte experts panel was convened to respond to the uncertainties facing local communities in the Xingu region. 40 specialists in diverse fields analyzed the project feasibility and environmental impact studies. Their conclusions were delivered to licensing authorities and public attorneys, and will be made accessible to the people of the Xingu in a simplified text.

http://www.internationalrivers.org/node/4729

Brazilian president to cut deforestation

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, will offer to reduce the pace of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest by 80% at this year's climate talks in Copenhagen.

Mr Lula said he would make the pledge at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which is due to take place this December in the Danish capital.

He told listeners of his Coffee with the President weekly radio programme that he foresees making this reduction by 2020 amounting to 4.8 billion fewer tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

However, Mr Lula added that with respect to global warming, the responsibility of rich countries is much greater than that of emerging ones.

"We have to draw a line between rich countries, which have a had an industrial policy in place for more than 150 years, and the poor ones which only now are beginning to develop," he said.

The Amazon rainforest is the largest in the world and is the source of one-fifth of all free-flowing fresh water on earth.

According to the WWF, if deforestation continues at its present rate 55 per cent of the Amazon will have disappeared by 2030.

http://www.sidewaysnews.com/environment-nature/brazilian-president-cut-deforestation

Brazil vows to slow deforestation

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says he will offer to reduce the pace of deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest by 80 per cent by 2020 when he attends December's global climate talks in Copenhagen.

Lula said his pledge will come during high-stakes talks in the Danish capital that aim to push 192 nations towards a climate deal to succeed the landmark Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

"We're in the process of preparing our proposal for Copenhagen," he said on his weekly radio program overnight.

"I foresee that by 2020 we will be able to reduce deforestation by 80 per cent, in other words we will emit some 4.8 billion fewer tonnes of carbon dioxide gas," Lula said during his Coffee with the President program.

Brazil's rainforest, the largest on Earth, is shrinking at the rate of some 12,000 square kilometres per year because of deforestation.

Lula said he will also demand in Copenhagen that industrialised countries pay their fair share of the costs of reducing greenhouse gases.

Proposals offered by developed countries should not only cover "initiatives to reduce their emissions, but all the other harm they already have inflicted on the planet", the Brazilian leader said.

"We have to draw a line between rich countries, which have a had an industrial policy in place for more than 150 years, and the poor ones which only now are beginning to develop," he said.

"With respect to global warming, the responsibility of the rich countries is much greater than that of emerging countries," said Lula.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26207950-23109,00.html

British delegate's pro-logging stance prompts EU apology

Embarassed official apologises after a British negotiator at the Bangkok climate talks rewrites the EU's climate change policy to sanction the felling of rainforests

The EU called the removal of forest protection wording a 'mishap' ... an aerial view of cleared rainforest in the Amazon basin. Photograph: Bruno Domingos/Reuters

The EU had to apologise last night after a British official at the Bangkok climate negotiations single-handedly rewrote its position to effectively sanction the felling of the world's rainforests in order to grow plantations of palm oil.

Wording that would have protected natural forests was in the draft UN text at the start of the week's negotiations, but had mysteriously disappeared by Wednesday – to the delight of loggers and some African countries.

On Friday, more than 20 countries led by Brazil, Mexico, India and Norway protested vigorously and pleaded for the safeguard to be put back in. But the EU, supported by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and other countries not known for their forestry protection policies, declined to reinstate it.

This prompted environmentalists and others to accuse the EU of being in the pocket of the global logging industry – some of whose members were at the negotiations lobbying delegates in the Bangkok conference halls.

But at a press conference this afternoon, the EU gave way. A clearly embarrassed Swedish spokesman was forced to say the negotiator had blundered. "It was an unfortunate mishap," he said. "Sometimes negotiators think of tactical moves. In this case, he wanted to wait until the Barcelona talks next month (to reinstate it). The EU has not changed its position. It is unfortunate. The poor negotiator has been slapped in his face."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/09/british-logging-eu-apology