BRAZIL NUTS: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR AMAZONIA’S FAVORITE FOREST-FRIENDLY SNACK
December 2nd, 2022 at 12:30pm ET
The Brazil nut is one of the primary non-timber forest products in the Amazon, but the supply chain suffers and is underdeveloped. Join us to learn how innovators are addressing the challenges and finding successes in the standing forest economy.
Marco Giagio
Fundaçao CERTI
Marco is the Director of the CERTI Amazonia Institute. Responsible for the operational management of the institute and its projects and programs with all segments. Based in Manaus, Brazil.
Mateus Marcoto
Bioverse Labs
Mateus is Chief Operating Officer for Bioverse Labs. Engineer specialized in aerial survey and system integration. Mateus has extensive experience leading aerial survey operations in remote locations with complex logistical detail. Since 2020, Mateus has led and managed Bioverse’s field operations, as UAV RPA certified by ANAC in BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line-OfSight). Mateus is also responsible for creating Bioverse field operations protocols including first response to emergencies, training, equipment, logistics and management.
Bioverse is a remote sensing and artificial intelligence impact solution for forest inventory that uses robust technologies for surveying, processing and applying NTFP harvest data to increase the productivity of NTFP supply chains. The Bioverse solution enables businesses and community cooperatives in the Amazon to increase their collection efficiencies, expand areas of operation, streamline logistics, and enlist off-takers in forest-positive production chains. Powered by drones, satellites, and machine learning, Bioverse’s geospatial analysis services provide estimates of annual yields, biodiversity, and forest integrity, and estimates of future uplift from forest restoration. The global demand for natural products, such as NTFPs, is increasing and Bioverse’s technology helps the Amazonian people take advantage of this opportunity to safeguard the local communities that protect the forest from the increasing threat of logging, mining, and ranching.
Ekkehard Gutjahar
Amazon Oil
Ekkehard is CEO and Founder of Amazon Oil. Amazon Oil works directly with riverine and traditional communities to extract cold-pressed oils, butters, and resins from nutrient-dense trees– many still unknown to the global cosmetics industry–such as the burití, bacaba, and patauá. By training communities on sustainable extraction methodologies and offering alternative streams of revenue that reduce deforestation pressure, Amazon Oil is putting the Amazon region on the map as a globally relevant exporter of refined botanical oils with demonstrable socio-ecological impact.
Johann Schneider
Coopavam
Johann Schneider has 25+ years of experience in international trade and marketing, export promotion, market access strategy and strategic planning, market research SME business and entrepreneurial development, tourism, with special focus on sustainable value chains, sociobiodiversity, NFTP – Non Forest Timber Products and fairtrade. He designed and led the implementation of business and project management methodologies and tools, as well as several large development programs and projects for MSME support organizations, mostly in Brazil. Mr. Schneider has also worked on international development projects, for organizations such as USAID and the UN, mainly in luso- and francophone Africa. Besides having designed and delivered many ToT – Trainings of Trainers and ToC – consultants, he has also teaches university courses on graduate level in the fields of marketing and business development in several renowned Brazilian universities and is a certified trainer for MSI Entrepreneurial Development Program and Institutional Development Framework and of the International Trade Center – ITC/WTO, for their Market Analysis Section. Mr. Schneider authored strategic guide books for the staff of Brazilian MSME support organization – Sebrae on how to deliver support services in the fields of market access, international trade promotion and fair trade.
