September 2026 - Amazon Conservation Association

Açaí berries, Brazil nuts, and the fruit of the palma real (royal palm) do more than nourish people worldwide. They sustain families and protect forests in the Amazon. These fruits appear in smoothies, supplement bottles, and skincare products powering healthy lifestyles around the world, but their greater significance lies in the rainforest. Harvesting and producing these fruits form the basis for the forest-based economy, showing how a forest can be worth more standing than cleared.

A Forest Is Worth More Standing Than Cleared

Across the Amazon, deforestation often comes from short-term economic gain. Land cleared for cattle or crops can generate income quickly, while keeping forests intact does not always offer an immediate financial incentive. Strong forest-based economies change that equation. When communities earn their living from forest products, the forest itself becomes the source of lasting income. In Bolivia, families have built generations of livelihoods around these harvests, keeping trees intact and forests thriving.

Açaí berries, Brazil nuts, and palma real are working examples of this. Communities in Bolivia have built harvest schedules around these three fruits, sustaining families for generations without cutting down the trees. The forest is not a resource to be cleared and sold. It is a valuable resource that continues producing, season after season, for as long as it remains standing.

Beyond One Harvest

A strong forest-based economy does more than generate income. It gives communities a direct, ongoing stake in keeping their forest intact, which is one of the most resilient and lasting forms of conservation there is. Effective long-term protection is far more likely when local communities depend on healthy forests for their livelihoods.

It also diversifies the local economy. While income from extractive activities only lasts as long as the forest is standing and resources are flowing, a forest-based economy offers a convincing alternative: sustainable income that keeps ecosystems healthy, forests standing, and strengthens community ties to the Amazon.

Strengthening Local Communities and Families

Our sister organization Conservación Amazónica-ACEAA in Bolivia has spent over a decade working with local families and community producer associations to strengthen this sustainable economy, by supporting the infrastructure, market access, and technical knowledge that turn a seasonal harvest into a reliable livelihood. It’s slower, less-dramatic work than a single conservation win, but it’s the kind that compounds. Every harvest season that a forest-based economy continues producing is another season the forest itself remains standing and another season local families will earn a stable source of income.

From the Canopy to Your Table

The açaí berries in your smoothie, the Brazil nut in your trail mix, the palma real oil in your favorite skincare product each represent a forest that’s still standing and a community whose future depends on keeping it that way.

This Rise for the Amazon Day, you can help sustain that cycle. Thanks to a generous donor and our Board of Directors, every gift made for Rise for the Amazon Day will be matched dollar for dollar up to $20,000, doubling your impact on the forest-based economies that keep the Amazon intact.