Brazil nuts' path to preservation (BBC) {Amazon rainforest preservation}

[eppur_se_muova]

Help is at hand for the Amazon rainforest and Brazil's poverty-stricken rural people - courtesy of the country's famous native nut.

Brazil nuts are a valuable food source with a huge market in Europe and North America: up to 7,000 tonnes of unshelled nuts and 20,000 tonnes of shelled nuts are shipped every year.

And because the trees that supply the nuts grow wild, they offer a way for communities to make a living from the forest without destroying it - something that is now being put to use in the country.

"This is a real financial resource for communities," Dr Rafael Salamao, who works at the Museo Gelde, one of the most important centres for the study of the Amazon, told BBC World Service's One Planet programme.
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However, they offer an alternative to the way that many areas of Brazil are trying to develop - by clearing the forest to create areas suitable for either grazing cattle or growing products such as soya.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6298997.stm

Good news and bad news in the full article.