Association for the Preservation and the
Sustainable Use of the Amazon Ecosystems

 

The “Hiléia Centre for the Sustainable Use of the Amazon Ecosystems" wants to contribute to a future for both human culture and nature in the Amazon, giving man the conditions to build up his own economic power against destruction.

The Amazon has a huge potential as a productive region. Scientific findings highlight the large potential and commercial value of rainforest products, promising an improvement of living conditions through sustainable extractivism and smallholder production. In reality, the knowledge to market these products is not available to the Amazon Forest Peoples. Timber is still the only secure source of income in case of an emergency.

Besides suffering constant disadvantages because of post-feudal patterns of power, the producers face a number of further problems, like illiteracy, lack of capital and the political settings of national and international decisionmakers.

It will be crucial if it will be possible to:

• create a large number of new high value, sustainable and marketable products;
• support the indians and smallholders in production and marketing.

These are the objectives of the Hiléia Centre.