Cooperacre’s Brazil nut plant in Rio Branco, Acre. Families in the Brazilian Amazon sell about 40,000 tonnes of Brazil nuts each year. (Image: Flávia Milhorance)
I wrote to Edivan Kaxarari at the beginning of April. Days passed without the message reaching the intended recipient and I was a little worried. Edivan lives in the Kaxarari Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon, close to the border with Bolivia. Although it is a remote area, the internet connection works. The forest in the protected area has been invaded by illegal loggers. In the past, there have been violent conflicts. Could something have happened?
Fortunately, two weeks later, Edivan replied with an excited audio message. He said he had spent 23 days camping in the Amazon rainforest collecting Brazil nuts, the main source of income for the 170 families in the indigenous territory, which is between the states of Acre and Rondônia. “It was too good us camping there, there were plenty of people collecting, breaking and carrying nuts,” he said.
