Chapter 8 - Collect Locally, Eat Globally – The Journey of the Brazil Nut

Abstract

The Brazil nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa) is one of the largest and most long-lived organisms found in the Amazonian rainforests. Its seeds, the “Brazil nuts”, are traded in considerable volumes on the international market. Because Brazil nut trees grow and bear fruit only in natural forests, and not in plantations, extraction of their seeds has become a source of income that can be combined with forest conservation. However, the collector’s work is hard, and often the income generated by Brazil nut sales is not enough for the collectors to improve their living conditions. In the region of Madre de Dios in Peruvian Amazonia, Brazil nut collectors form an important segment of the local forest-dwelling population. Brazil nut collection takes place in concession areas, which are allocated on the basis of pre-existing traditional collecting areas, as well as on indigenous community lands. Brazil nuts also are collected in the neighbouring countries Brazil and Bolivia.