How Buying Acai Berry Products Help Save The Amazon Rainforest
Palm trees are "monocots".
The trees most common to most of us such as maple trees, oaks, pines etc. are "dicots". If you cut off the top of a dicot tree it continues to grow, sprouting new branches. But if you cut off the top of a monocot, such as the palm tree, it will die.
The palm tree that we refer to as the acai palm is a monocot. If you cut off the top of the tree it will die. So it seems crazy that anyone would cut off the top of an acai palm tree that can be a productive food producer for decades, maybe even over 100 years. But they do.
In another section of this web site we mentioned that the acai palm fruit comes primarily from the E. edulis palm tree. That tree also happens to be a primary source of "heart palms". Sound familiar? If you have eaten "hearts of palm" on a salad or a pizza, it's the same stuff. The "hearts of palm" is the top leaf at the crown of the palm tree that produces the acai palm. To get that small amount of leaves at the top of the palm tree for use primarily in salads, the tree is given a death sentence. It's a one shot deal. Cutting off those leaves just one time, means that the tree will die in a short order.
Remember, the acai palm tree is a "monocot" tree. So once the top leaves are removed the tree will die.
World demand for hearts of palm, largely for salads, is killing off the palm tree that produces the acai berry.
The Wall Street Journal did a front page article on this on March 25, 2002 titled "In Brazil, A Desperate Struggle Is Waged Over A Salad Garnish" by Miriam Jordan, a staff reporter of the Wall Street Journal.
She reported that "The heart comes from a 12 to 16 inch span at the top of the 65 foot palm's trunk. Once the heart is removed, the tree dies. One tree, which can be as much as 100 years old, has enough heart to fill just two 14-oz. cans. The cans retail for about $3.99 apiece in the U.S."
The article indicated that the illegal harvesting of the heart palms results in poachers chopping down from 5,000 to 10,000 of these palm trees each week. This is done for that 12 to 16 inch section (the heart palm) at the top of a typical tree that stands around 65 feet tall. According to Brazilian law enforcement personnel, each poacher chops down an average of 50 trees each day for about $1.00 per tree.
This has been going on for such a long time that only a small amount of the original Atlantic forest of Brazil exists.
Many locals realize the economic value of a palm tree that can produce a valuable fruit for decades, maybe even a hundred years, is greater than taking the "heart palms" and killing the tree. But the poachers are still out there doing immense damage in order to make a quick buck.
According to the Brazilian government, 2004 was the second worst year in history for the deforestation of the Brazilian rainforest. In total, over one fifth of the Brazilian rainforest has been deforested.
Over 120 drugs have so far been derived from the vast botanicals in the Brazilian rainforest. And it's anybody's guess what substances have not yet been discovered from this awesome array of incredible trees and plants.
So by buying the best quality acai berry products we not only gain the nutritional benefits of the product, but we also provide increased demand for a product whose use creates an incentive for Brazilians to protect this very special palm tree.
And by the way, "hearts of palm" have almost no nutritional value except for the fiber. So buy Acai…and please don't eat hearts of palm!
See our choice for best acai products.
