The mighty andiroba tree is also known as Brazilian mahogany

The tree known as andiroba, which can grow up to 40 meters high (131 feet), has its name derived from the Nheengatu, an Indian language from Brazil’s Tupi-Guarani family. “Nhandi” means oil and “rob” bitter. A quite appropriate same since the oil, which can be applied on the skin but also ingested. has an acrid taste.

Common throughout the Amazon, the andiroba tree, from the same family as the mahogany, is found in the wild associated with other well known plants like rubber tree, ucuúba, and pracaxi. It belongs to the meliaceae family and is known scientifically as Carapa guianensis Aubl. It grows mainly on rich soils and swamps.

Andiroba, which is called crabwood in Guyana is also known by other names like andiroba-saruba, bastard mahogany, Brazilian mahogany, caoba bastarda, caoba del Brasil, caobilla, iandirova, carapa, cedro, cedro macho, figueroa, iandirova, krapa, mahogany, nandiroba, requia, tangare, y-andiroba.

Resembling a chestut the andiroba nut contains several kernels or seeds that yield about 63% of a pale-yellow oil. When the andiroba fruit is ripe it open letting the seed to drop to the ground. Each fruit contains from 7 to 9 seeds. The ripe seeds fall to the ground from January to June. Another less abundant fruiting period occurs in October.

A single tree bears annually, on average, 200 kg (441 lbs) of nuts. You’ll need about 6 kg (13 lbs) of nuts to produce 1 kg (2.2 lbs, about a liter) of andiroba oil using the traditional and primitive extraction method.

Some have confused andiroba with West Africa’s touloucouna. While the seeds’ shape on both are very similar, the chemical composition of the oils they produce are quite different. The Touloucouna oil is always solid while the andiroba oil becomes liquid at room temperature.

The kernels gathered by the Amazon caboclo from the rivers or jungle floor are boiled in water and then left to rotten for a couple of weeks. After that they are pressed in the tipiti, an elastic plaited cylinder made of palm. This crude process allows only about half of the oil to be extracted

Andiroba seeds and leaves

Bark, leaf, fruit and seed of andiroba are all used to make medicine. Oil can be extracted from the fruit and the seed and is taken for coughs. A tea made from the plant’s bark or leaf is ingested in the Amazon as a tonic and muscle relaxer as well as to fight fever, worm infections, parasites and herpes.

Applied directly to the skin the plant’s bark and leaf are known as effective treatment of sores, ulcers and all kinds of skin problems as well as removing ticks and skin parasites. It’s also effective to fight arthritis, swelling and inflammation, rashes, joint and muscle aches. It’s equally very useful for killing bacteria and treating wounds, boils, and ulcers.

Andiroba is also used as lamp oil, soap and as an insect repellent. At the beginning of the 19th century, Belém, an Amazon city in northern Brazil, capital of the state of Pará, used to light its streets with andiroba oil. The fuel had several advantages: besides being grown locally the andiroba allowed for a cleaner burn, with little smoke and the extra advantage of keeping mosquitoes and other pesky insects at a distance.

The US furniture industry has been a great fan and a big importer of the Brazilian mahogany, another name given to the andiroba tree, which is soft yet durable with the additional benefit of repelling insects. This interest has contributed to the fact that the species has virtually disappeared in areas close to major towns in the Amazon.

As for the Brazilian Indians they’ve known and used andiroba for centuries. The Munduruku Indians, for example, who live in the states of Pará, Amazonas and Mato Grosso and are also known as Black-Faces used to mummify the heads of their enemies killed in war using andiroba oil.

Other tribes like the Creole, the Wayãpi, the Palikur, who live in the French Guiana, use the oil for treating skin problems and to deal with parasites and ticks. There also those who wear a mix of andiroba oil and annatto to spread it all over the body. The concoction serves both to prevent insect bites and protect them against the frequent rain in the rainy season.

Following on the steps of jungle dwellers known as caboclos, city residents in Brazil have learned to benefit from andiroba. Among the products they have available is a soap they use for skin disease, which is a mix of andiroba oil, cocoa skin and ash.

Andiroba oil is also rubbed on the joints to relieve arthritis pain. Mixed with water and human milk the oil is used to fight ear infection. And a tea made of the andiroba tree’s bark is known to help with digestion problems.

Other uses include the treatment of wounds, bruises and skin diseases as psoriasis. Add to this moisturizer and massage oil.

Inside the andiroba seed shell

Studies in Brazil have shown that andiroba candles burning for 48 hours in a closed space were able to protect 100% against bites from the Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that transmits dengue. More studies, however, are needed to verify the efficacy of the product when applied direct on the skin.

Lab tests of crude andiroba oil made in Brazil have proved the product’s anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties. At least three andiroba chemicals have shown to have antiparasitic and/or insecticidal actions. In 1999, a patent was filed in the US to use andiroba oil to prevent the formation of cellulite.

More recently there have been studies on andiroba’s anticancerous properties. In 2002, for example, researchers reported that the seed oil could prevent and even reverse a precancerous condition known as cervical dysplasia.

There also evidence that the andiroba’s leaf, bark, seeds, and flowers help to fight in-vitro sarcoma cancer cells.

Fighting for a sustainable Amazon rainforest

There is a consensus among Brazilian experts that sustainable forest management is the best option for Brazil if the country wishes to sell its timber without destroying the forest that still covers about half of the country. The difficulty has been finding a way to make money in a sustainable business, which costs 30% more than conventional ways of the exploring wood.

The company Orsa Florestal, after five years in the red, seems to have found a formula to survive in this world that everyone praises but few know the difficulties of turning it into a profitable enterprise.

The business of Jari’s certified wood – the Jari project was made famous by American billionaire Daniel Ludwig, who acquired the area in 1967 to build there a model agroindustrial pole – purchased in 1980 by Orsa has been radically redesigned and if everything goes according to plan it should become profitable this year.

The company expects profits of 10 million reais (US$ 5.46 million) in 2012, rising to 14 million (US$ 7.65 million) the next year when the new model is totally implemented. They operate in the timber, pulp, paper and packaging fields. Their operations involve 545,000 hectares in the Amazon, an area a little larger than the state of Delaware.

“I almost gave up the business in 2009,” reveals Sergio Amoroso, president of the Orsa Group. He took a big risk in 2000 by acquiring the Jari project, which was on the verge of bankruptcy, US$ 415 million in the red.

The world recession of 2009 hit many international customers of Orsa. Some were from the Netherlands, their best client for certified products. The Dutch and others then tried to buy the wood as if it were conventional lumber. Orsa, however, refused to lower the price and still has difficulty selling stocks valued at 10 million reais (US$ 5.46 million).

In 2010, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, recognized the Brazilian company as one of the 25 models of excellence in forest management in Latin America and the Caribbean. One differential of the firm is that they provide social protection through the Orsa Foundation to poor communities who live in or close to their property.

Although his company seems to be on track to become profitable Amoroso believes that sustainable management in the Amazon is something that’s still not economically feasible. He criticizes the critics who only see faults when talking about companies that explore the Brazilian rainforest:

“There is this idea that you can have a sustainable business without investing money, but this is not possible,” he says.

One big problem, he argues, is the paperwork involved in doing things according to law. “Anything that you want to do legally becomes very difficult. And this only causes the proliferation of lawlessness,” he adds. “Creating difficulty so they can sell you an easy way out it the most common thing there.”

Amoroso also believes that it’s important to invest in projects that produce economic gains for the population, and not just give them education and instill environmental awareness.

“If people don’t have some kind of cost-effective solution, trees will continue to be felled illegally,” he concludes.

Not everyone agrees with that, however. João Meirelles, the director of Peabiru Institute Peabiru, an NGO that works to preserve the Amazon’s biological and social diversity, for example, defends the idea that priority number one in the are should be the creation of political communities.

According to him, only with such political education, it will be possible to form regional leaders and managers who will be able to maintain the functioning of social projects brought by the companies to the Amazon.

He argues that the new arrivals usually bring their own agendas and structures and have a hard time communicating with the community. “There are already 500 billion reais (US$ 273 billion) allotted to major projects in the Amazon,” he says. “Companies must have interlocutors who can bridge the gap.”

Meirelles reminds that in the past there were 400,000 miners in the region. Now they have been cut in half to 200,000, but there are another 400,000 workers at new construction sites. These changes contribute to the population’s political demobilization, he says.

The newcomers, he explains, are from other regions of the country and are not used to the way things are done in the Amazon. Companies tend to offer higher wages in order to get workers, but employers give little information to help them adapt to the new life.

“The arrival of the workers has to be less simplistic,” he contends. “Amazon has to be a life project, not the country’s backyard where everything is easier.”

About 500 people from several countries, including scientists, biologists, students and those interested in green are gathered in Belém, capital of the state of Pará in northern Brazil, until Saturday, March 31.

They will be discussing how to enhance green spaces in urban areas of the country and how to preserve the Brazilian fauna. The main theme of the meeting, however, is the Amazon Wildlife Conservation.

They participate in the 36th Congress of the Society of Zoos and Aquariums in Brazil, which opened Wednesday in the Hangar – Convention Center and Amazon Fair.

The meeting is offering conferences, short courses, workshops and lectures by experts in wildlife conservation. One of them is Canadian scientist Gabriela Mastromonaco, PhD in Reproductive Biotechnology and curator at the zoo in Toronto, Canada. The curator of a zoo is the person in charge of acquiring animals.

Another authority on the subject being highly anticipated by the participants of the meeting is the Brazilian biologist Sergio Rangel, nationally known for his TV shows, where he popularized the theme of protecting the Brazilian wildlife, particularly in the Amazon.

Speaking at the opening of conference, Pará’s state Secretary of Culture, Paulo Chaves Fernandes stressed the importance of holding the congress in Belém:

“When you have a meeting like this, where people are involved and engaged in the preservation of the environment, the biome and biota of the Amazon, we should say ‘Amen’, since we will have the opportunity to exchange updated information between various institutions and the government of Pará, and find out how to proceed so that we can preserve the Amazon the way, the size and the manner it should be,” said the secretary.

According to Chaves Fernandes, “we are included in a large natural zoo, which is the Amazon, which has one of the richest biodiversities on the planet. This zoological vision, in order to preserve, is essential so that people value, admire and feel how important it is to maintain the ecosystem. Humankind itself benefits from this. “

In the city of Belém do Pará, spaces such as the Zoobotanical Park Bosque Rodrigues Alves and the Goeldi Museum are examples of the focus of the event, which will feature themes related to the world of zoos and aquariums, focused on the local scene.

“We will discuss topics such as their importance in the economy of a city as a tourist attraction, the laws involving environmental problems in the country, research and environmental education. All from the perspective of the Amazonian reality”, added biologist Igor Seligmann. the manager of Mangal das Garças (Herons Mangrove).

He also highlighted the changes zoos have undergone through time, and the importance they have for society. “In the past, zoos were places seen as a space where people would go just to see animals as something like a museum collection. Today, these spaces seek, above all, to inform people. Since people no longer have much contact with nature due to urbanization zoos have become important sites for providing that, being also a mechanism for protecting and preserving the environment,” he said.

Schedule of March 29 – Thursday

9:00 to 12 noon – Short Courses

- Sanitary handling of wild animals in zoos (Rodrigo Teixeira – Sorocaba Zoo; Anderson Augusto – Rio Zoo)

- Handling and research in situ and ex situ of neotropical primates (PhD Mauricio Talebi – Federal University of São Paulo – UNIFESP; PhD José Augusto Muniz – National Primate Center)

- Environmental enrichment and conditioning as tools for animal quality and welfare (Marco Majolo)

- Artificial breeding of wild pups (Aline Imbeloni – Park Mangal das Garças)

- Biology and management of aquatic mammals in the Amazon (PhD José Anselmo Neto – INPA)

- Identification and management of cats of the Amazon (Biol. Kátia Cassaro – Beto Carrero World, Tadeu Oliveira – UFMA)

- Management of large and ornamental fish from the Amazon Basin (Antônio Paulo Pina Araújo)

- Taxidermy: utilization of biological material in zoos (Biol. João Aparecido Galdino – Harpia Institute)

- Courses for animals caregivers (Lázari Ronaldo Ribeiro Púglia – Reino Animal; Biol. Fernando Magnani – PESC)

- Social aspects of hunting in Amazon communities (Antonio Messias Costa – Goeldi Museum)

9:00 to 12 noon – Workshops

- Biotechnology of reproduction as a conservation tool used in zoos (PhD Gabriela Mastromonaco – Toronto Zoo, Ph.D. Moisés dos Santos Miranda – UFPA; PhD Sheyla Domingues – UFPA)

- Butterflies nursery: a contact with nature (Agronomist Ivan Assunção Pimentão)

- Scenography in zoos and aquariums (Set designer Lee Oliveira – São Paulo Aquarium)

12 noon to 1 pm – Break

1:00 pm to 3:00 pm – Lectures

- Ex situ conservation and rescue of species (PhD Cátia Dejuste – WCS Brazil)

- From intern to zoo director (Lázai Púglia – Reino Animal)

- Handling of aquatic mammals from the Amazon (PhD Vera Silva – INPA)

- Ex-situ reproduction of guarás (scarlet ibis) in Mangal das Garças Park (Biol. Mika Aihara)

3 pm – Break

3:30 pm to 5:30 pm – Conference

- Ex situ research and conservation (PhD Cátia Dejuste WCS-Brazil / Lecturer, PhD Mauricio Talebi-UNIFESP/Panelist, PhD Paul Castro – CENP/Panelist)

6 pm – Presentation of panels

The full schedule until March 31 is available in http://www.congressoszb2012.com.br/congresso/programacao.php

Natura has become the leading company in cosmetics and organic skin care products in Brazil

According to global market expert, London-based Euromonitor International, skin care is still the most important category in value terms within beauty and personal care market in the world, comprising 23% of global sales in 2010. In the personal hygiene, perfumery and cosmetics universe, Brazil has become a giant rising to third place in the world just behind the United States and Japan.

Since 2010 when Brazil sold US$ 6 billion in perfumes compared to the US$ 5.3 in the US, Brazilians became number 1 in perfume consumption.

Brazilians have created in recent years a new middle class. If by middle class we understand households with an annual disposable income of over US$ 15,000 then the country counts on 32.4 million middle-class households, placing Brazil in fifth place, ahead of France and the UK.

Even when defining middle-class as households with an annual income of over US$ 25,000, the South American country would get 19.8 million households, more than Spain or Canada, for example.

Even though a little late to the party, Brazil is also playing catch up to the organic cosmetics movement around the world. With half of its territory still covered with green the country is a natural in this new health-conscious, forest-preserving, self-sustainable universe. It is estimated that the organic cosmetics segment will grow 7.4% in Brazil this year alone.

Take Beraca, for example, one of the pioneers in the market, which was created in 1991. The company has become a global leader in supplying Amazonian raw material for the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry. And they seem to be making good money while growing at an enviable rate of more than 20% a year in the last five years.

The company is also famous for its sustainable practices and for their work inside local communities that gather fruits and seeds. They train small farmers to extract the right way the raw material they need.

“We work with about 1500 people who live in riverside communities around the Amazon Forest and the Atlantic Forest. Before, these people used to burn trees and cut down trees to sell them to loggers. They’ve learned now that can earn more money while at the same time protecting the forest,” informed Filipe Sabará, Beraca’s director for new business.

Small farmers learn with instructors from the company how to properly gather the material needed in a way that the active ingredient is preserved to be used in its whole strength in the cosmetics industry.

The world is fast learning that the greener a cosmetic is, the better it can provide a healthier alternative to chemical and refined products.

“Consumers began to associate skin, nail and hair problems to synthetic cosmetics. Organic products give the feeling of not harming the body,” says Sabará.

For Sabará, the main challenge for any organic company is the high investment required together with the need to maintain a level of quality required by the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry. It’s much harder to insure the same high standard of a product when dealing with natural products derived from plants that depend on weather, soil, plagues.

Another biggie in the Brazilian cosmetic industry is Natura. Created in 1969, it has become a leading company for personal products like lotions, creams, perfumes, deodorants and sunscreens. Having adopted a direct sales approach in 1974 the company was able to surpass Avon in Brazil since 2006. Natura presents itself as an eco-friendly sustainable company.

Describing itself in its site, Natura says, “Our products are the highest expression of our essence. To develop them, we mobilize social networks able to integrate scientific knowledge and wisdom of traditional communities, promoting at the same time, the sustainable use of the Brazilian botanical’s rich biodiversity. We do not use animal testing and adhere to the strictest international safety standards.”

Alessandro Mendes, Director of Natura’s Packaging and Products Development, says that 80% of the raw materials used in the cosmetics they make come from plants, which are grown in a sustainable way. The remainder uses synthetic ingredients.

Mendes recognizes that natural doesn’t translate always in better benefits for the health of the consumer adding that organic products, however, are always more concerned with the environment than the synthetic items, like the ones extracted from petroleum.

While it develops active ingredients in their labs, Natura also relies on local suppliers – mostly small and medium businesses from whom the company demands strict commitment to green and sustainable rules.

Areas in red indicate high concentration of carbon. Photo by Greg Asner from the Carnegie Airborne Observatory)

Recent photos of the Amazon in 3D by a US university reveal physical and chemical details until then unknown. The high-tech pictures show a kaleidoscope of colors instead of the common green carpet of past images of the region. The colors point to the richness of the rainforest and the diverse composition of its flora.

The amazing images were possible thanks to the special 3D cameras from the Carnegie Institution for Science, linked to the Stanford University. It is a complete map of biodiversity, which makes physical and chemical measurements of the forest, from an aircraft.

Among the scientists goals are to map the Amazon species that exist but also to understand how the ecosystem is responding to the 2010 drought, the worst ever recorded in the Amazon rainforest. These data may help countries like Brazil and Peru to create a better way to monitor and prevent deforestation.

Conceived by Gregory Asner the system may substantially improve understanding of the Amazon ecosystems as well as showing great potential to change the way tropical research is done all over the world. It might also allow a better understanding about carbon emissions when an area is deforested.

Asner was responsible for developing the Carnegie Airborne Observatory (CAO) in 2006. The CAO is a very unique airplane that carries optical, chemical, and laser sensors, which combine to form the AToMS (the Airborne Taxonomic Mapping System), which in turn makes it possible to create the high-resolution, three-dimensional maps of the Amazon flora showing a world that is invisible to the naked eye.

One of the pictures released shows a preserved area of the forest in red, indicating high concentration of carbon. Rivers on the other hand appear in blue color. The presence of several colors in the same area shows the presence of various species and great diversity.

“The whole idea was to measure each of the things plant ecologists measure on the ground to evaluate biodiversity,” said Asner, in an interview with Mongabay. “There was not a single technology that could measure each of the features we needed, so we decided to put together technologies that were close to doing some of those things. Along the way we developed some new technologies.”

Then in another interview the scientist noted: “In Peru, we found a very large range of biodiversity and carbon stocks. This means that we cannot face the ‘green carpet’ as one sole entity. It is a kaleidoscope of change.”

In Colombia, the CAO helped found that variations in altitude, vegetation and water presence have an important role in the diversity of carbon stocks in the Amazon.

The AToms (abbreviation for Aerial Mapping System Taxonomic) program was launched in June 2011 and brings together a powerful laser and two types of spectrometers – a device that measures different properties of light. One of them was developed by NASA and is capable of recording 400 frequencies from the ultraviolet to the infrared, with 60 000 measurements per second.

The results obtained are compared with a database that lists the chemical as well as light emission properties from about 5,000 plants. All this vast information was obtained through detailed field work, in which the scientists team climbed trees and even used bow and arrow like the indigenous peoples of the region.

The CAO, which has already recorded the African savannas, has not mapped any portion of the Brazilian Amazon, as of now, but the American scientists hope to raise funds to go to the country soon. The mapping is usually done with support from local governments.

Animation showing 3D mapping of the Amazon rainforest

AmazonDrops’s president in one of her trips to the Amazon to meet the people who work gathering seeds.

Ubuçu (oo-boo-soo) or Buçu (Manicaria saccifera) is a very common palm in the Brazilian Amazon being found on the banks of the floodplains mainly in the states of Amazonas, Pará and Amapá.

People living along the river use its leaves to cover houses to protect them from the rain and the sun. The stem reaches 3 to 5 meters high and 3 cm thick. The leaves reach 5-7 meters in length and they stay in the stem after they dry.

The bunch that hangs from the palm is protected by a jacket similar to a bag of fibrous material and resistant that’s known by the name of tururi.

This material, collected after falling on the floor or taken out by the caboclo (Amazon native) due to its flexibility and resistance is being used more and more in artisan and fashion products like handbags and purses. It’s also used for packaging.

A group of 23 artisans from the Association of Artisans Flower of Marajó (Aflomar) working with the tururi fiber in the city of Muaná, Marajó Island, in Pará state, with the guidance of designer Jum Nakao created the collection “Hues of Muaná.”

Their work was shown in September of last year at the Salon Prêt-à-Porter in Paris. Among the products developed by them: hats, earrings, bracelets, necklaces and bags.