A project to generate renewable energy that went wrong led extractivists from the Middle Juruá in the state of Amazonas to one of the most successful partnerships in the history of local communities.
Surrounded by the Amazon rainforest, some 400 families transform the andiroba and murumuru they collect from the forest into raw material for the industrial purposes. Each year 26 tons are supplied to a national cosmetics company.
The traditional inhabitants of the Middle Juruá Extractive Reserve strictly follow the Conservation Unit's Management Plan and celebrate nature's response: more "young" trees now grow under the adults than 15 years ago, when they began the management.
The local extractivist association and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation say the partnership with industry is vital for the communities: it generates income and ensures the preservation of the environment.
Although some residents practice subsistence farming, the total deforestation in the reserve does not exceed 2%.