Precious Woods Amazon closely connected with the local population

In 2017, Precious Woods Amazon successfully completed its 20th year of FSC-certification – one of the longest and thus most sustainable track records in Brazil’s forestry sector. More far-reaching investments have been made not least of all in the fields of workplace safety, accident prevention, and training. We maintain partnerships with educational institutions in order to promote schooling as well as professional training for the employees, their families, and the inhabitants of Itacoatiara.

Precious Woods attaches great importance to a good relationship with the local population: In 2016, PW Amazon began a socioeconomic survey of the local communities. We draw on this survey to gain insights about the environmental, ethnic, and religious aspects and the measures we should take to promote participation by the local population.

Over the course of 2017, Precious Woods promoted cultural events, celebrations, and sporting events, and it supported the construction of community centres. Films and videos are also used as part of an environmental education project. Pieces of waste timber and other sawmill waste are provided to artisans and used in workshop courses for the local communities.

In cooperation with the HAFL (Bern University of Applied Sciences, School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences) and other educational institutions, we regularly accompany bachelor’s and master’s theses of prospective forest engineers. In this way, we gain important insights into the impact of our activities, the regenerative capacity of our forest areas, and any potential for improvement. And sometimes we even succeed in attracting managers for our locations in Brazil and Gabon. The 20-year data collection on the growth of different tree species in the Amazon forests provides a unique basis for new approaches to sustainable management of tropical forests.