A rare palm called the Atlantic Forest acai is reviving a threatened Brazilian ecosystem by paying farmers to keep the trees standing, not cut them.
Brazil · Sustainability
Key Facts
—The plant. The juçara palm, known as the Atlantic Forest açai, yields a fruit much like the famous Amazonian berry.
—The threat. Decades of logging for its heart of palm pushed the species onto Brazil’s endangered list.
—The fix. Harvesting the fruit instead of felling the tree turns a standing forest into a source of income.
The global craze for açaí is driving a plantation boom that leaves the forest’s original harvesters behind.
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