Amazonia Viva is the name of this initiative whose aim is to improve the quality of life of Amazonian communities through sustainable production and supply.
The network marketing company has been working for two decades to protect the Brazilian Amazon through sustainable raw material collection projects. Thanks to the success of the initiative in the country, they have decided to expand the project to the Colombian borders, exploring new supply options in the region and conserving 250 hectares of rainforest in the country so far.
Amazonia Viva is created from this expansion. The aim of the project is to implement ethical biocommerce in the region in order to improve the quality of life of its inhabitants, promoting the production and supply of raw materials for its products in a sustainable way, thus ensuring the care of native biodiversity.
The first article to be produced through Amazonia Viva in Colombia is the copoazú fruit, native to the country, with favourable results. So far, over 60 families have been part of this initiative, getting paid by Natura for the sustainable harvesting of the product and for preventing the cultivation of illicit crops that are non-native to the region’s ecosystem.
Likewise, a document was recently signed in Leticia in which the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, the SINCHI Institute, Agrosolidaria and the Copoazú Association of Belén de los AndaquÃes agreed to cooperate to consolidate the value of copoazú.
Natura takes part in different international cooperation projects as an anchor company, as well as purchases inputs from the communities. On top of that, the company also makes efforts to transmit information and knowledge about such products, encouraging contact between communities and the exchange of experiences.
In the same vein, Natura is calling on Colombian companies to join the initiative, to learn more about copoazú and the various ways of integrating it into their business projects.
“The doors are open to join ‘AmazonÃa Viva’ and contribute to the maintenance of the Amazon, which constitutes 43% of the Colombian territory”, said MarÃa Andrea Vargas, General Manager of Natura in Colombia.
