Sustainable Harvesting

The world's richest ecosystem, the Amazon Rainforest, is being destroyed at an alarming rate. But as the world's largest consumer of acai berry outside of Brazil, MonaVie® is working to preserve the Amazon's acai palm trees. Through partnerships with MonaVie, the local people can now use ecological harvesting techniques to provide them with sustainable economic benefits rather than a one-time-only return. Because acai trees produce fruit year round, harvesters gain from a continual income that helps sustain life in the Amazon while also preserving the rainforest.

Sustainable Harvesting of the Acai Berry is at the Heart of Preservation

In the Amazon Rainforest of Brazil, an abundant and diverse ecosystem produces plentiful plant life and profuse wildlife. It is here that nature is at its most powerful and its most generous. It has been reported that more than 10 percent of all species of plants and animals now live in the Amazon and Atlantic rain forests. Experts estimate that nearly a quarter of the oxygen on earth is produced in the Amazon which is often referred to as "the lungs of the planet."

Unfortunately this lush ecosystem is being destroyed at an alarming rate and is at risk of completely disappearing . This natural resource shrinks as people chop down the trees to make room for ranching and industrial development.

For many years, the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest has occurred at an unprecedented rate. Like many of the botanicals found in the Amazon, acai palm trees are vital plant species that have been carelessly and needlessly chopped down. In the past, these trees were illegally destroyed by poachers just to harvest a 12-inch section known as the palmito, or "heart of palm." This tasteless and nutritionally void portion of the tree was sold as a salad garnish. In addition, palmito harvesting only provided a one-time monetary benefit. A food staple for the local population, acai berry is now a vital part of the economy. Through a partnership with MonaVie, local people practice an ecological way of harvesting that provides long term economic benefits. Because acai trees produce fruit year round, harvesters benefit from a continual income that helps sustain life in the Amazon and preserve the rainforest.

Ecologically Friendly Harvesting Practices

Skilled harvesters climb the 20 to 30 meter high acai palms with vines secured tightly around their ankles for safety to pick the nutritious and powerful berries. Once retrieved, MonaVie's premier acai berries are placed in a canoe and transported down the Amazon River to be quickly preserved. MonaVie has taken great efforts to help conserve this essential area of the world. The acai that MonaVie uses is not from a plantation or any type of farm. It is from wild acai trees within the Amazon Rainforest. MonaVie chooses to buy from local Amazonians who climb the acai tree to the top and pick the berries themselves.

Many of the locals MonaVie buys from have, in the past, used acai palm trees specifically for the heart of palm, which is a section of the trunk. When the heart of palm is cut out of an acai palm, the acai tree will inevitably die. MonaVie has chosen to use many of the previous "heart of palm" harvesters to help harvest the acai berry for MonaVie products. This helps to decrease production of the heart of palm and slows the destruction of the rainforest. The harvesters are paid substantially more to harvest the acai berry than they would otherwise to harvest the hearts of palm. Many of these harvesters have begun planting more acai trees when one has died. In this way we have contributed to the preservation of the rainforest and helped the economy in these regions.

In addition, when an acai tree dies naturally (they will live about 100 years), approximately five seedlings are planted in its place. The acai berry can be harvested within a few short years. In 2007 alone, MonaVie helped preserve more than 1,000 acres of the Amazon Rainforest.