Section C: Non-Narrative Text

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Brazil nut trees are native to a number of countries in the Amazon River basin, including but not limited to Brazil. In fact, the most significant exporter of Brazil nuts is Bolivia. The trees are found scattered through large forests on the banks of the Amazon, the Rio Negro, the Tapajà³s and the Orinoco rivers. The name ‘Brazil nut’ is doubly misleading as, in botanical terms, they are not nuts at all but the seeds inside the fruit of the Brazil nut tree.

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The Brazil nut tree towers over its neighbours, reaching heights of around 50 metres, with its crown spreading over 30 metres in diameter. The tree bears elongated oval leaves with smooth edges, and produces cream-coloured flowers. The hard-walled fruits are spherical pods that resemble large coconuts hanging at the ends of the tree’s thick branches. A typical pod contains 12-24 triangular seeds, or nuts, that are arranged like the segments of an orange. A mature tree can produce more than 300 pods which ripen and fall to the ground from January to June. The pods are harvested from the forest floor, and the seeds are extracted, dried in the sun and then washed and exported while still in their individual shells.

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These Brazil nuts are valuable non-timber products of the Amazon region and are primarily harvested in the wild by local people. Many forest-based communities depend on the collection and sale of Brazil nuts as a vital and sustainable source of income. The sweet nuts provide protein and calories for tribal, rural Amazonians who also use the empty pods as containers and brew the tree bark to treat ailments. Not only are the nuts themselves popular because they are delicious and nutritious, the oil extracted from them can be used in cooking. There is a substantial market for nut oil among urban Brazilians as a lubricant in clocks, for making artists’ paints and in the cosmetics industry.

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There are, however, several obstacles to developing commerce in Brazil nut trees and their products. It is difficult to grow them in plantations because the production is low and therefore not currently economically viable. The trees are extremely sensitive to deforestation because of their complex ecological requirements. They produce fruit only in pristine forests, as disturbed habitats lack the large-bodied bees which are the only insects capable of pollinating the trees’ flowers. Once the flowers have been pollinated, they rely solely on rodents called agoutis for the dispersal of their seeds. These rodents gnaw the pods open, eating some of the seeds inside while burying others for later use; some of these seeds eventually germinate into new Brazil nut trees. Most of the seeds are ‘planted’ by the agoutis in shady places, and a young sapling may have to wait for years for a nearby tree to fall and the necessary sunlight to reach it before it starts growing again. In an attempt to protect the Brazil nut trees, logging them is prohibited in nut-producing countries. Nevertheless, illegal extraction of the timber continues to present a threat.

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As a result, in Brazil, trees are being planted in people’s backyards, near roads and streets The pods containing nuts are very heavy and rigid, and when a tree is grown in populated areas falling pods pose a serious threat to the people living around it. Every year vehicles are damaged as they pass under the trees. Moreover, the nuts sink in fresh water, which can clog waterways and cause local flooding. Not only that, away from the safety checks of regulated production, individuals risk serious illnesses because the shells contain high levels of toxins.

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Brazil nuts are a challenging commodity to produce in commercial quantities and therefore remain to the present day a valuable export for the areas where they are indigenous.