There is no one solution to save the Amazon Rainforest. A wide range of sustainable and effective initiatives are needed to keep the forest alive while improving the quality of life for the 20 million people that live there. Obviously this can only be achieved, if economic alternatives and solutions to destructive logging can be found.

Outlined below are just a few of the products that are either currently being produced in the rainforest or that have a potential to provide people living from the forest with sustainable means of income.

Rubber tapping is a traditional and ecological activity that has been part of the life of the Amazon since the beginning of the century. This activity does not damage the forest as it is not necessary to cut down a rubber tree to extract the latex.

Today about 63,000 families of rubber tappers live in extractive reserves in the Amazon forest. These reserves were established by the Brazilian Government in order to allow rubber tappers to carry out their traditional activities. The reserves currently amount to approximately 1% of the Amazon Rainforest. The National Council of Rubber Tappers wish to designate almost 10% of the Brazilian Amazon as extractive reserves by the year 2000. Presently, only 5,000 tons of rubber are produced from the Amazon to supply 1.4% of the national market for rubber in Brazil.

The economic value of a forest extends beyond the value of its timber. Traditionally, indigenous people have harvested many forms of produce from the forest without destroying its ecosystem. Fibres, fruits, seeds, flowers, nuts and honey are just some of the many options of non timber forest products from the forest.

Palm Fruits and Palm Hearts:

The fruits of the Acai Palm are traditionally used to make a wine rich in minerals. One palm tree produces about 20 kg of fruits per year.The tasty, dark violet wine is the most important non wood forest product in terms of money from the river delta of the Amazon. In 1995 almost 106,000 tons were produced at a value of US $40 million.

The production of Acai palmhearts in 1995 amounted to 190,298 tons worth US$8.9 million. Although the palm tree has to be chopped down in order to extract the palm hearts, the relative ease of replanting in the middle of the forest and quick regeneration of the palms make this a sustainable alternative to large-scale logging. The biggest importers of palmhearts are France, Canada, USA, Spain, Japan, Holland and Belgium.

The rich vitamins, the exotic flavours and the attraction of new products are providing opportunities to market fruits from the Amazon nationally and internationally. Over 48 native fruits in the Amazon have been identified with a potential for being marketed both national and internationally.

The camu-camu fruit for example contains larger concentrations of vitamin C than any other fruit known today and is imported to the USA to produce vitamin tablets. Cupuaçu is anorther fruit which due to its specific tropical taste is expected to hit the world market in the coming years.

Additionally, many Indian tribes traditionally collect Brazil nuts and for many of them this is their main source of income.

More than two-thirds of all mass-produced drugs are derived from medicinal plants, and 80 per cent of the world’s population uses the plants themselves to treat everything from hypertension to syphilis according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Extracts from the PacificYew in the rainforests of North America which have proven effective against cancer are just one example of a natural occuring remedy in the world’s rainforest and the potential of the Amazon has only begun to be realised. At present, close to 650 species with pharmaceutical effects and economic value have been identified in the Amazon.

Ecotourism has a huge potential in the Amazon and at the moment it is poorly developed. Ecotourism would guarantee low environmental impact on the Amazon rainforest through the application of environmentally friendly technologies and environmentally sensitive accomodation for visitors. Ecotourism could also guarantee that wealth creation from such activities would directly benefit local communities.

Due to its natural beauty the Amazon forest offers many different options for ecotourism and adventure tourism like trekking, rafting, diving, cruising, birdwatching and wildlife observation.

In the Amazon there are currently 16 jungle lodges (1997) registered in the Tourist Office of the Amazonas state, offering 1007 beds in total. It is obvious that further development has to be carefully monitored in order to ensure the sustainability of the expansion of this industry.

The Amazon Rainforest is the greatest reserve of commercial timber in the whole world estimated at around 60 billion cubic metres. At the moment less than 1% is logged sustainably. Ecologically responsible forest management seeks to ensure that the ecosystem of the forest is not damaged and low volumes are extracted. The impacts on the plant and animal life in the forest from this kind of logging are very small indeed

Greenpeace is working with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to develop standards which can promote ecologically responsible forest use in the brazillian amazon. The FSC is a global system established to label products from well-managed forests meeting environmental, social and economic principles and criteria of good forest stewardship.