junho, 10 2024

Solange Azevedo, from Canutama (AM) 

The resumption of the native rubber chain was a long-held dream of 84-year-old Damião Santana de Oliveira. "Didn't I tell you that I raised all these kids with rubber? It was my favorite thing to do. The only reason I'm not going back to the bush is because I don't have the stamina", he says. He learned the skill from his father, taught it to his children, who passed it on to their grandchildren. Today, his descendants are part of around 500 families involved in an initiative by WWF-Brazil in partnership with the Chico Mendes Memorial, the National Council of Extractivist Populations (CNS), the Partners for the Amazon Platform (PPA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID Brazil), the Institute for Forest and Agricultural Management and Certification (Imaflora), Michelin Brazil and the Michelin Corporate Foundation. 

The initiative contributed to the conservation of more than 145,000 hectares of the Amazon through management for rubber production. Indirectly, the positive environmental impact exceeds 1.3 million hectares in the four conservation units and five municipalities in Amazonas where the activities are carried out: Canutama, Pauini, and Manicoré, in the south of the state; Eirunepé, in the southwest, near the Javari Valley; and Itacoatiara, in the metropolitan region of Manaus.  

In 2023, more than 130 tons of rubber were produced and sold, generating R$1.8 million in income for participants. Ricardo Mello, Conservation Manager at WWF-Brazil, points out that this initiative aims to strengthen the sustainable rubber production chain and, at the same time, foster socio-environmental development in the Amazon region, preserving nature and strengthening indigenous peoples and traditional communities, with fair pay for workers. "The involvement of the private sector in the socio-biodiversity production chains of both the Amazon and other Brazilian biomes is fundamental to help building those product chains," he adds. 

This format for collecting native rubber from the Amazon, one of the main production chains for generating income in a sustainable way in the region, is a climate solution that conserves the standing forest through the active participation of local communities. Strengthening this chain is essential because it generates a robust network that connects people, biodiversity, climate, territory, business, and opportunities. It also brings the locals an alternative to the pressure of an economy based on deforestation. There are rubber tappers that have switched from occupations such as mining, realizing that their work not only generates income and purchasing power for local communities, but also helps to keep the Amazon standing. 

The rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) is native to the Amazon region and reproduces naturally in this biome. Native rubber, as it is produced in the structure of the forest, offers, in addition to the rubber product, environmental services such as climate regulation, water production and serves as a shelter for biological diversity. 

According to WWF's Living Amazon Report 2022, 18% of the Amazon's forests have been completely lost and 17% are degraded. Modeling estimates indicate that when we reach 20% to 25% deforestation in the biome, the forest could reach the so-called tipping point: a stage of degradation that will lead it to lose its capacity for resilience and regeneration, with a series of consequences not only for the biome and the regions close to the forest but for the whole world. This destruction must be stopped. 

To this end, WWF-Brazil is working alongside partner organizations in the Amazon on solutions for sustainable development because the standing forest, in addition to being crucial to guaranteeing the survival of the planet, is capable of generating income for local communities. Strengthening the rubber chain, with the reinsertion of families like Damião Santana de Oliveira into productive activity in one of the areas most threatened by environmental crimes in the biome, is one of the most promising solutions today.  

The rubber in the past, the present and the future 

The rubber economic cycle peaked in Brazil between the 1870s and around 1912. The wealth produced, however, was concentrated in a few hands. Just like at the next peak, during the Second World War (1941-1945). 

Although the rubber tree is native to the Amazon, it has been cultivated outside Brazil, especially in Southeast Asia, becoming an international commodity, with daily fluctuations on the stock exchanges, significantly impacting the lives and incomes of the people of the Amazon rainforest. Today, the monoculture format has become popular in other regions of Brazil and abroad. 

In Brazil today, the rubber tappers who live in the four Resex (Extractive Reserves) involved in the project "Escalating production of sustainable Brazilian rubber - Strenghtening traditional communities through the Amazon supply chain" have their purchase guaranteed and negotiated at a fair price.

So much that the price of the rubber sold took into account not only the similar market value of latex collected in forests planted in Brazil. Bonuses relating to sustainability, fair trade, and the provision of environmental services, such as the conservation of the Amazon, were also added. As well as an amount to keep the structure and mobilization of the associations involved in the project running. The producers were also supported in accessing the state subsidy of R$ 2 per kilo produced and three of the five municipalities where the project operates have also secured R$ 1 subsidy per kilo - the other two have promised the subsidy for 2023. 

An alternative to the economy of deforestation 

This is a region that deserves extra attention. Canutama is located in the south of Amazonas, the area most pressured by environmental crimes in the state and one of the most critical in the whole of the Amazon. The municipality alone was the 10th one that lost the most forest during December 2021 and 2022, in the entire Legal Amazon. Since then, with the adoption of a series of inspection and control measures put in place by the new Federal Government, deforestation has begun to decline. 

"The choice of the south of Amazonas as part of this work to revive the rubber chain is extremely important for the Amazon's conservation strategy," says Jhassem Siqueira, Sustainability Analyst at Memorial Chico Mendes, one of the project's partner organizations which is linked to the National Council of Extractivist Populations (CNS). "This is a region that, in the past, fed the state's economy with socio-biodiversity products and the tireless work of people whose culture and way of life are linked to the living forest. It's very sad to see all this potential being destroyed to make way for commodities like soy and cattle. By revitalizing the rubber industry, we are also encouraging the multiple and sustainable use of the forest, strengthening other non-timber products such as Brazil nuts, copaiba (diesel tree), andiroba, and murumuru". 

Mayor Zé Roberto (PSC) says he can already see changes in the municipality's economy, as latex and nuts are the main non-timber forest products currently obtained in the region. "The forest is better looked after because the producers become inspectors and don't allow it to be degraded or cut down," he says. 

This is because the locals tend to dedicate themselves to different activities throughout the year, depending on the weather and the availability of products. Latex extraction, for example, takes place in the second half of the year, during the dry season. The Brazil nut harvest, on the other hand, takes place in the rainy season. 

The success of this project shows the importance of developing similar approaches in other environmentally threatened regions of the world. 

Meet WWF-Brazil's partners in this project 

Michelin Brazil    

Michelin France    

Michelin Corporate Foundation 

WWF-France    

CNS - National Council of Extractivist Populations    

Chico Mendes Memorial    

PPA - Partners for Amazonia Platform   

Conexsus - Conexões sustentáveis 

Coiab - Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon 

Imaflora - Institute for Forest and Agricultural Management and Certification 

Conab - National Supply Company 

Amazonas State Secretariat of Production    

Secretary of the Environment of Amazonas   

ADS - Amazonas Sustainable Development Agency 

Canutama City Hall  

Pauini City Hall 

AMARGE - Rio Gregório Extractive Reserve Association of Agroextractive Residents   

APAIGA - Association of Agro-Extractive Producers of Igarapezinho    

APROCRIA - Association of Producers, Creators and Extractivists of Amazonas    

ASPAC - Association of Agro-Extractive Producers of Canutama    

ATAE - Association of Agro-Extractive Workers of Eirunepé    

ATININGA - Association of Agro-Extractive Residents of the Community of Terra Preta and São José do Lago do Atininga  

ATRAMP - Association of Agro-Extractive Workers of the Municipality of Pauini