Acai

clipped from www.latimes.com Acai has gone from staple of the Amazon to global wonder-berry It’s been touted for its antioxidant properties and green pedigree, but now some worry that the fruit’s surging popularity could spell trouble for the rain forest. BELEM, BRAZIL — A frenzy overtakes the teeming harbor here as a wooden-hulled riverboat chugs into port. “It’s here!” cries an expectant buyer, one of many shoving his way toward the craft in a sweaty mercantile crush. “The gold! The purple gold!” The cargo is acai (pronounced ah-sigh-EE), the unassuming fruit of a jungle palm that has gone from Amazonian staple to global wonder-berry: a much-hyped ingredient in smoothies, sorbets, nutrition bars and countless trendy treats from L.A. to London to Tokyo.

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The Kayapo Indigenous group of Pará, Brazil eat wild açaí that grows in their protected rain forest. The health of the Kayapo and the rain forest are in constant jeopardy. Loggers and miners threaten to deforest the area as big as the size of New York State. The Kayapo need to generate a sustainable income from their renewable forest products to meet their needs and ward of the mass infiltration in their area. Dr. Rodolfo Salm, tropical biologist and Dr. Lisa Feder, cultural anthropologist, are raising the money to reforest barren lands with açaí trees, a source of nutrition for the Kayapo and a potential source of sustainable income for this people. For more information, contact Lisa Feder at lkf7@cornell.edu.

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