Brasília - For the first time a Brazilian forest reserve has received certification from the Forest Stewardship Council. The certificate recognizes the Reserva Extrativista São Luiz do Remanso, located in the state of Acre, as a multiple use area run by the local association of rubber tappers (Associação dos Seringueiros). Among the products certified are lumber and tree bark, along with oils and seeds from plants and trees in the reserve.

With certification, those products obtain a higher commercial value.

According to Magna Cunha dos Santos, the coordinator of the NGO, Consorcio Amazonia, which operates in partnership with the WWF, certification will strengthen efforts to practice sustainable extraction in the reserve and maintain high quality products for consumers. The financial management of the reserve is in the hands of the Community Forest Products Group which has pledged to revert 50% of income to producers, and reinvest the other 50% in production equipment, social assistance for producers and training of personnel.

Agência Brasil
Reporter: Keite Camacho
Translator: Allen Bennett
11/29/2004