In Business, Creating Sustainable Enterprises & Communities

PROTECTING RAINFOREST AND WAY OF LIFE

In Business, September-October, Vol. 29, No. 5, p. 12

Leading organic drink company brings healthy beverage alternative to the United States.

Michael LeBel

WHAT BEGAN as a college class project a decade ago has emerged as a leading organic drink company inspiring a new generation of socially responsible entrepreneurs. Alex Pryor and David Karr - founders of Guayaki Sustainable Rainforest Products - have brought a South American rainforest drink to the U.S. called organic yerba mate. In the process, they have created economic opportunities that protect the rainforest and their way of life. It's called sustainable Market-Driven Restoration.
Guayaki Yerba Mate is a healthy tea, coffee and energy drink alternative that outsells coffee 7-1 in Pryor's native country of Argentina. “Our goal was to create consumer demand for healthy rainforest products, providing native people with alternatives to destructive land use practices,” states Karr. Vast acres of rainforest are being wiped out for cattle grazing, huge soy plantations and timber harvesting. “There is no doubt that paying a fair, premium price creates an incentive for farmers to focus on organic quality and to continue on with sustainable land use that nurtures the rainforest.” “It's also rewarding to see how sales of Guayaki products in the U.S. help support reforestation, upgrades to housing and schools, and improved medical care,” Karr sums up.
A project that exemplifies Guayaki's strong commitment to fair trade is the company's partnership with the Aché Guayaki tribe, the last “hunters and gatherers” in the Atlantic Forest. The Kue Tuvy Preserve in Paraguay sustains dozens of families of Aché people whom help protect 12,500 acres of rainforest. Guayaki has planted thousands of yerba mate trees below the rainforest canopy to provide them with future economic means. The inaugural harvest will be in 2008.
It is yerba mate harvest season for Guayaki, and therefore it is a good time to highlight Guayaki's Yaguarete Project in Argentina. The Yaguarete Preserve is a farm with 200 acres of Interior Atlantic Forest, bordering the 150,000 acre Iguazu National Park. The farm is an important biological corridor for Jaguar migration. Guayaki has funded training and technical assistance for the Yaguarete farm to obtain organic certification and reforest 60 acres of sun-grown yerba mate with native tree species. This year, Guayaki purchased more than 20 tons of organic yerba mate from this farm at a price that is 100 percent above market value.
Unlike coffee, tea, chocolate, sugar and fruits, there is not yet an official fair trade certification for yerba mate. But Guayaki isn't waiting around for it to be official before implementing this social justice concept. “We're a member of the Fair Trade Federation, and in that capacity we meet or exceed the standards that are set for other fair trade commodities such as coffee,” notes Karr. “We have been working with other organizations to help establish the yerba mate standard and expect that it will come to fruition in the near future.”
One thing is for sure, American consumers are embracing fair trade. Sales of many popular fair trade coffees, such as Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, have penetrated mainstream America and have been growing by 40-50 percent over the past couple of years. According to a study by the Natural Marketing Institute, nearly 90 percent of Americans say it is important for companies to be mindful of their impacts on society and the environment, with more than 70 percent saying they're more likely to support companies that do.

DEFORESTATION AND GLOBAL WARMING
Another new science report has highlighted deforestation as the second leading human activity causing climate change. The latest data, crunched by an alliance of leading rainforest scientists called the Global Canopy Programme (GCP), indicates that deforestation accounts for 25 percent of global emissions of heat-trapping gases. An Australian study issued in May in the journal Science, has determined that tropical deforestation releases 1.6 billion tons of carbon into the Earth's atmosphere each year. Vast acres of rainforest are still being clearcut for lumber, or slashed and burned to make way for cattle grazing and huge soy bean plantations.
“Guayaki is proving that profitable business can go hand-in-hand with rainforest protection,” says Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Rainforest Action Network, a nonprofit that protects the forests through education, grassroots organizing, and nonviolent direct action. The Atlantic Forest of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil is one of the world's top biodiversity hotspots and one of South America's highest priority sites for bird conservation. “Less than five percent of the rainforest is left and creative approaches are needed to halt the destruction and to turn the tide by employing reforestation techniques,” says Brune.
Not only does Guayaki create a strong incentive for people to leave the forest standing by purchasing shade-grown organic yerba mate from farmers at premium prices in areas where the forest canopy is intact, the company also has several projects underway to replant native tree species in deforested areas, which will regrow to become the future home to the “drink of the gods” - organic, shade grown, fairly-traded Guayakí Yerba Mate.
Guayaki has raised-the-bar by offering organic drinks that are stimulating, refreshing, nourishing, and made with only pure natural ingredients. Unlike other functional and energy drink concoctions on the market today that feature synthetic ingredients such as isolated vitamins, high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors, processed caffeine and other weird stuff derived in a lab, Guayaki follows a “whole plant - whole health” herbal tradition that unleashes the power of natural functional ingredients.
Founded in 1996, Guayakí is the leading provider of organic, fairly-traded, rainforest-grown yerba mate in North America with products sold at thousands of natural foods stores, cafes and supermarkets. The award-winning company integrates the triple bottom line principles of economic viability, social justice, and environmental stewardship in all aspects of their business.

Michael LeBel is with the Planet Friendly company. His e-mail is mic@planetfriendlypr.com.

THE POWER FOODS GROUP AND ITS VALUES

THE POWER Foods Group is a marketing initiative that includes organic food industry leaders including Sambazon acai, Dagoba Chocolate, Guayaki Sustainable Rainforest Products and Manitoba Harvest Hemp products. The companies often share resources on ads, show booths, event sponsorships and communications.
All four are marketing exotic food commodities from foreign countries in the form of consumer brands to the U.S. They include: Sambazon markets acai berry from Brazil that grows on palm in the Amazon Rainforest - Ryan and Jeremy Black (brothers) www.sambazon. com; Dagoba markets cacao in the form of chocolate from many sources such as Costa Rica and Indonesia -Frederick Schilling - www.dagobachocolate.com; Guayaki markets yerba mate from Argentina - David Karr - www.guayaki.com; and Manitoba Harvest markets hemp foods and oils from Canada -Mike Fata - www.manitobaharvest.com.