Dispatches

Amazon Conservation Association – Peru (Brazil Nut Project)

April 16, 2009

This city is up early and the sun came streaming in the windows early, along with the sounds of a rooster crowing so it was time for us to take our next boat ride out to the Brazil nut reserves. A quick ride by go-kart cab and boat and we were at the first concession. A very lively and hard-at-work 74-year-old concession owner named Patricio Leon met us. He easily outdid us when it came to heat, heights, and hiking. First, we went for a two hour hike through the jungle where he told us all about the brazil nut trees, posed for the camera and told us all about his life here. He was born in this concession and lived his entire life there, raising 12 children and is now the proud grandfather of 27, and even a great grandfather of 1.

What makes Brazil nuts so special and what does this have to do with saving the Amazon? Well, first, they grow best in primary forests, thus owners have an incentive to not cut the forest down with hopes that it will re-grow, because the trees won’t produce as much this way. This makes their job harder, as owners have to wait until all of the coconuts fall (the trees can be 150 feet tall and a hit with one of those can be deadly) and then they navigate through all of the trees and vines in the jungle to get to the brazil nuts. In addition, there is a certain bee species that is specifically able to get into the brazil nut flowers to pollinate them and these bees are happiest in primary forests.

Patricio told us that currently prices for Brazil nuts are down to about half what they were last year, so currently he is holding onto the nuts until the price gets a bit better. He estimates that for a 70 kilogram bag of shelled brazil nuts, he can make $700 solis when the prices are high. Currently he can only get about $350 solis. After lunch, we wanted Patricio to take a siesta so we traveled via boat to another area village to find out more about brazil nuts. We met a local female concession owner, who told us about her experience managing a concession. The cost of shipping the nuts to market and paying workers to bag/haul the nuts consumes over half of the money that they get for selling the nuts, particularly now in this slower market. Though she did admit that she is very proud to have a job that is conserving the forest. While they do need help from the government, and it would be better if the market were in her favor, she said she will get by as you never know – next year could be a favorable year.

We also talked to a local park ranger, who helps to monitor the concessions, mediate disputes and find solutions for farmers looking for more area. He is responsible for monitoring visitors to this area of roughly 250,000 hectares, and teaching area concession owners how to better manage their resources. He can also use GPS and maps to determine where property lines end to more accurately determine who has the rights to resources. Another change that has helped the area is farmers have switched from tractors to bulls, which seems counterintuitive, but the tractors tear up the dirt roads, whereas the bulls do no damage.

Then it was back to Patricio’s property to ask him more about his work and to take a few parting shots. When asked about how things have changed over the last 74 years, he said that has definitely noticed a drop in rainfall. Since the 1960s, there has been a definite decline in brazil nut production and around this time there was a very large rain. He thinks its possible that this rainfall affected nut production or possibly that it has something to do with the changing climate. You may have noticed that I am old, Patricio said, and I plan to leave my concession to someone I trust won’t cut it down and will protect it. I could have left a long time ago, but a deer is always called to the forest and I love living here.

Our fearless translator Augosto Mulanovich, from the Amazon Conservation Association, bravely faced all of our questions about both Brazil nuts and CICRA. One goal for both areas is to try and earn carbon credits for the land. If you can make the forest valuable, the owners will have an incentive to maintain it. At this time they are trying to determine a baseline carbon concentration to determine how much carbon each can hold and therefore what it is worth. In addition, there are a lot of people moving here from the Andes for work and they are not as tied to the land. So you have to improve conditions in the Andes, give them an incentive to stay so that this place is not flooded with people. Brazil nuts are one way to sustainably manage a forest because they need a strong, healthy forest to produce. Over 2.5 million hectares of forest are currently divided into roughly 1,200 brazil nut concessions, offering income and livelihood for over 200,000 people.

With that, the sun was setting and our time with Patricio had come to a close. So we hopped back aboard our boat and rode back to Puerto Maldonado under a setting sun.