Supporting Ethical Trade from Forest to Market

Feb 142 min read

Friday, 14th February 2025

By Paula Perrelli dos Anjos

They travelled for 3 hours by boat….

… to meet the Brazil Nuts harvesters from two partner cooperatives in Peru – RONAP and AFIMAD. These organisations include 280 producers who forge on more than 115,000 hectares of healthy rainforest.

Crossing the River Madre de Dios in southeastern Peru, our team - Aldo Soto, Pajani Singah, and Nelson Torres - took a trip to Puerto Maldonado to better understand the challenges of the population who work on the collection, processing, and enterprise of these nuts, which directly supports the preservation of the Amazon rainforest.

The AIV team sought to reconnect with the producers and look closely at their hard work, providing ideas and technical assistance. They even had a chance to try collecting Brazil Nuts themselves, picking the shells of nuts and tossing them into the vine-made bags that needed to be carried through the humid and evergreen forest floor.

The main objective of the visit was to finalise due diligence, build a mutual relationship, and gain a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by the local community, such as illegal mining, issues with transport and road infrastructure, and uncertainty of production due to the impact of climate change.

Beyond Impact-Linked Loans

As innovative as it is, the business model created by AIV goes beyond impact-linked loans. In supporting cooperatives, AIV also fosters trade relationships between Amazon forest enterprises with ethical buyers from the Global North.

During the visit to the Brazil Nuts harvesters, AIV invited Shafia Abdala, the Sustainability Manager from North American eco-conscious GoodSAM Foods. The company sells healthy snacks to chains like Whole Foods and Sprouts.

GoodSAM Foods purchases the Peruvian nuts from an organisation that processes the shells collected by AFIMAD, which involves local Indigenous Peoples from Madre de Dios.

During the trip, Aldo, Pajani and Nelson also introduced Shafia to RONAP, hoping for future agreements if the GoodSAM market need for Brazil Nuts increases. RONAP is renowned for its excellent traceability in Brazil Nuts production and biodiversity monitoring with high-tech equipment.

For Shafia, visiting the source confirmed that each product ecosystem has its challenges. “And each place shares a common vision: people, farmers and foragers with a deep conviction to care for their land and forests because their livelihoods depend on them.” It was her first visit to a community of Brazil Nuts harvesters, and Shafia was deeply impacted by their resilience and wisdom.