Ongoing
Women Conserving the Cerrado
Trains Cerrado women to sustainably produce food and bioactives, promoting financial autonomy and environmental conservation.
Location
Location
Community
Agroextractivist communities in the Cerrado have a long history of living in close connection with the biome’s natural resources. Over generations, these communities have accumulated traditional knowledge about native species and developed sustainable management practices. However, women agroextractivists often face challenges in asserting their leadership within the communities, such as the undervaluation of their traditional knowledge and financial dependence on their husbands.
Many native Cerrado species hold significant economic value, serving as an essential source of income for local rural communities. However, the current situation is marked by limited female autonomy and participation in the commercialization of these products. After harvesting raw materials, women frequently lose influence to men, who take the lead in marketing, determining both prices and terms of negotiation. This diminishes the value of women’s productive roles within the communities and often results in financial dependence on their spouses.
Women have a multidimensional perspective on the use of species — encompassing health, nutrition, and well-being — and maintain a deep connection with the elements managed within the ecosystems. Therefore, strengthening female empowerment and qualification processes is expected to promote more sustainable management practices, supporting biodiversity conservation and the preservation of ancestral knowledge across generations.
The project aims to rescue and value this traditional knowledge, strengthen women’s leadership, and promote financial autonomy for women.
Species
Baru (Dipteryx alata)
A fruit tree known for its protein- and oil-rich seeds, used in human nutrition and in the production of cosmetics.
Pequi (Caryocar brasiliense)
A tree whose fruits are used in regional cuisine and for edible oil production.
Favela (Dimorphandra mollis)
A tree producing seeds with high medicinal value, used in phytotherapeutic products and natural cosmetics.
Babaçu (Attalea speciosa)
A palm of great socio-economic importance to agroextractivist communities, whose fruits are used for oil, fiber, and food production.
Jatobá (Hymenaea courbaril)
A hardwood tree whose seeds are used in human and animal nutrition.
Activities
Promote community participation through mobilization, organization, and project evaluation meetings
Mobilization and organization meetings will be conducted in the municipalities and communities where the project will be implemented. Their goal is to present activities and partners, engage families, and highlight the benefits and opportunities offered. Community groups will also be formed, led by women selected through participatory processes, to strengthen organization and female participation in agroextractivist activities.
Train women agroextractivists in the management, use, conservation, and pre-processing of native Cerrado species
Workshops on sustainable management and participatory organic certification.
Eight-hour workshops will be offered to build knowledge and qualify female labor, covering pre-processing, sustainable management, species use and conservation, and participatory organic certification processes.
Exchange and training at the Agroecological Community Living Center.
To deepen knowledge and encourage experience sharing, a one-day exchange will be held with 90 women agroextractivists at the Agroecological Community Living Center. Participants will learn about innovative agroecological practices, interact with specialists, and share their own experiences, enhancing skills and strengthening sustainable management in the Cerrado context.
Support women agroextractivists in organizing the sociobiodiversity product value chain and facilitate cooperative integration
Socio-productive organization and participatory monitoring of Baru management
In partnership with Coopcerrado, women agroextractivists will organize the collection, storage, transport, processing, and commercialization of products derived from native species. Selected female monitors will oversee all verification and evaluation processes, recording quantities collected and produced by each family.
Participatory monitoring of Baru will involve marking seedlings with numbered tags to identify plants used in organic production. Monitored areas will be cataloged by female monitors in field notebooks, evaluating the species’ productivity and seasonality in relation to sustainable management practices.
Enrichment of certified properties
Technical visits to women’s properties will support enrichment of productive areas through planting forest species seedlings. Soil conditions will be assessed and guidance provided to female farmers.
Impact
200
women trained in management, use, conservation, and pre-processing of native Cerrado species.
200
properties certified for organic production, ensuring product quality and added value.
10,000
Baru seedlings planted on properties to ensure a future raw material supply, reducing pressure on Cerrado ecosystems.
Avon
Avon is part of the Natura&Co group, one of the world’s largest beauty groups, and has the purpose of empowering women and promoting their financial independence. With the aim of being the best beauty company in the world and for the world, Avon has a sustainability policy focused on commitment to life, addressing social issues such as equality and inclusion, and environmental issues such as the climate crisis and biodiversity loss.
CEDAC
Founded in 2022 with the purpose of advising rural communities of the Cerrado to overcome poverty and social injustice by valuing these communities’ know-how about Territory — Biome — Cerrado. The Solidarity Marketing Network mobilized by CEDAC, whose principles stem from the National Center for Agroecology, enables the development of sustainable practices in the Cerrado, adding value to products aimed at food, medicines, cosmetics and more.
VBIO.eco
A bioeconomy platform that enables projects to add value to Brazilian biodiversity. It has a multidisciplinary team with more than 12 years of experience in project management and corporate communication. Its work has enabled the implementation of 23 biodiversity valorization projects and created a network of over 500 organizations and companies active in socio-environmental causes.