Business and Biodiversity Initiative

Beraca has a tradition of promoting the sustainable use of biodiversity. By joining the ‘Biodiversity in Good Company’ Initiative Beraca committed itself to the implementation of the Leadership Declaration, and especially to achieve its three goals: conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits that arise out of the utilization of genetic resources. To begin implementation, Beraca started corporate programs at the Health & Personal Care division – for example, it created the Biodiversity Enhancement Program, a department responsible for the community approach and relationship, transparent relations with all the people involved, conservation of the forest and social responsibility actions.

The Biodiversity Enhancement Program is important because it has generated a transparent communication channel with the communities enabling Beraca to develop a good rapport with them. The first step is to map the communities; the second is to map the commercial possibilities of each one, avoiding the inappropriate use of the natural resources; the third is to set prices, which are above the minimum price stipulated by the Brazilian Federal Government; the fourth step is to make a contract between the groups in order to guarantee the community and Beraca’s commercial role. It is important to highlight that Beraca never buys all of the products forests supply; instead it only buys a selection, to make sure the forest remains intact. Through the Biodiversity Enhancement Program Beraca has established guidelines for its production sites allowing it to act in the same way with all the communities and also to guarantee the forest conservation and the products quality and pattern.

Moreover, Beraca has taken some structural measures as well, such as starting a reporting program to the directory board and communicating its results to the market through a regular Sustainability Report. The company has also nominated a biodiversity leader, Mr. João Matos - former Amazonas Environment Secretary, who is responsible for leading the Biodiversity Enhancement Program and taking the network worldwide to collect best practices and put them into action at Beraca.

Beraca currently has a network of suppliers in five different Brazilian states, 3 ecosystems, 1,500 families and 58 communities. This allows the company to expand the number of beneficiaries, taking into consideration that financial resources stimulate local economic development. It also helps support the concept that biodiversity is a key tool for Amazonian and Northeastern populations, where opportunities are rare and the destruction of ecosystems increases every day.

Close cooperation and agreements with local producers enable Beraca as well as the cooperatives to guarantee prices and trade volume to its members. This model of partnership involving three sectors - business, community, and government - has been its focus for delivering real improvements to the local communities. It strengthens the supply chains of Amazonian species and the empowerment of local groups. It also presents a new perspective of life for all the locals and supports the sustainable use of environmental and social resources.

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