Jungle Gems

“Look carefully and you’ll find a bit of jungle in the foods you eat, in the medicines on your shelf, in a thousand products from shampoos to guitars, in your myths and metaphors, the stock market, the weather, the daily news, and your daydreams.”

–Diane Jukofsky and Chris Wille, conservation journalists

In April 1998, Brazil’s President Henrique Cardoso announced his government’s commitment to triple protected forest acreage by establishing 70 million acres of new protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon.

Tagua nuts, the sustainably harvested fruit of the tagua palm tree found in South America, are considered an alternative to animal ivory because they can easily be carved and polished. Tagua-nut products promote forest preservation as local people earn sustainable incomes by leaving the forest intact.