Vol. 20, No. 1
Winter 2007

Coffee, Cocoa and Tourism to Conserve the Amazon

The Canopy Index

In the western Amazon, most coffee farmers have never heard of a latte, and the region's cocoa growers have tasted only rudimentary chocolate. Most lodge owners and river guides have never been to Europe or the United States, where the majority of their clients reside. Foresters would never dream that the hardwood logs they toss into a cooking fire could be converted by European craftsmen into finely polished furniture worth more than a typical forest-dwelling family earns in a year.

White-Faced Monkey

But all that is starting to change. Thanks to innovative partnerships between NGOs and progressive companies, the gap between international markets and entrepreneurs in the Amazon is closing. Foreign buyers are suddenly appearing direct from Switzerland and Seattle in remote coffee villages such Huila, Colombia seeking special coffees, for which they are willing to pay well above the market price. International tourism companies are negotiating directly with tribal chiefs along the Amazon and its tributaries. Companies that make wood products including musical instruments and garden furniture are asking their buyers to bring them cuts from certain tree species that are prepared in specified ways.

These buyers are interested in more than quality. In response to growing consumer demand, they want goods that are produced sustainably. They want to be able to assure consumers that the wood in their supply chain or in their new flooring has been harvested in ways that do not harm the forest or local communities and that the espresso in their cup comes from farms where wildlife abounds and workers are well treated.

For the farmers, foresters and tourism entrepreneurs throughout the Amazon, this new way of conducting business results in stable livelihoods, and greater opportunities for improving health, education and the overall quality of life. And for the forest itself, the approach leads to a reduction in environmental degradation and the protection of some of the world's most glorious wildlife species and their habitat.

Red-Eyed Frog

To support the expansion of sustainable business in the Amazon, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has funded the Amazon Basin Conservation Initiative (ABCI), a five-year, $65 million program involving more than 30 different organizations. ABCI is one of the Amazon's first region-wide, multiple-country conservation initiatives. The Rainforest Alliance's role in the ambitious project is to expand the adoption of certification as a conservation tool, working in collaboration with our partner groups Fundación Natura and Conservación y Desarrollo.

Managing the program for the Rainforest Alliance is Luis Felipe Duchicela. A native Ecuadorian with an MBA from Yale University, Duchicela worked for over 20 years in the private sector with Chiquita Brands International, in a variety of progressively responsible positions dealing with production and exports of palm oil, bananas and other tropical fruits. He has most recently been the regional director for the Rainforest Alliance's Certified Sustainable Products Alliance, a USAID-funded project in Central America and Mexico oriented to promote the certification and marketing of four key products: coffee, bananas, pineapples and timber.

"This grant will allow the Rainforest Alliance to apply our 20 years of experience in improving livelihoods, creating market linkages and protecting fragile and diverse ecosystems to the Amazon Basin," Duchicela explains. "As we witness the effects of adverse global trends such as deforestation, illegal logging, global warming and the loss of biodiversity, we look forward to meeting this important challenge."