Brazilian cosmetics firm Natura &Co employs 20 individuals who intently handle its relationships with 44 Indigenous communities within the Amazon rainforest. There, Natura sources 45 pure substances reminiscent of Brazil nuts, andiroba and ucuuba seeds important for its Ekos model of vegan physique lotions, bathe oils, soaps and different private care merchandise.
The workforce is one part of Natura’s two-decade-long dedication to defending nature and biodiversity, mentioned Natura Chief Sustainability Officer Angela Pinhati, in the course of the Bloom occasion Oct. 24 on the COP16 convention in Cali, Colombia.
Natura strengthened its dedication in 2023 after the United Nations conference on biodiversity finalized a world settlement to guard a minimum of 30 p.c of land and water in Montreal. Its purpose is to develop the variety of bio-ingredients in its merchandise to 55 by the tip of the last decade, and it has pledged $100 million to seek out “regenerative” methods of cultivating these bushes, nuts, berries and crops.
“For Natura, it was all the time fairly clear that this was in the primary technique of the corporate,” mentioned Pinhati. “It might be of financial worth.”
Natura’s local weather and nature methods are intently interwoven, she mentioned. It’s deeply concerned with the Union of Moral Biotrade (UEBT), a nonprofit based in 2007 that advocates the “sourcing with respect” with a watch to making sure human rights and bettering biodiversity throughout provide chains. By 2025, Natura has pledged to evaluate and report on all of its biodiversity dependencies as a part of an up to date technique. That evaluation will assist it develop science-based targets for nature and biodiversity.
The corporate, which owns the Avon magnificence model, has helped shield or regenerate greater than 5.4 million acres of Amazon forest since 2020 towards a purpose of three million by 2030, in accordance with Natura’s annual report that integrates knowledge about its efficiency and sustainability efficiency.
Sourcing with ‘respect’ and ‘reciprocity’
The Amazon, often called the “lungs of the world” for its skill to soak up carbon dioxide, spreads throughout 9 Latin American nations and is house to 30 p.c of the world’s biodiversity. Nearly 9 p.c of the area’s forests, or 134 million acres, have been misplaced to deforestation between 2001 and 2020. Business pressures are manifold, together with authorized actions reminiscent of conversion for industrial-scale agriculture or sanctioned mining to unlawful ventures such because the manufacturing of coca for cocaine.
Firms sourcing commodities or merchandise from the area have a accountability to make sure their uncooked supplies don’t come from destruction of pure assets or exploitation of the Native communities who personal these territories, mentioned Fany Kuiru, head of COICA (Coordinating Physique of Indigenous Organisations of the Amazon Basin), which represents 511 Indigenous communities who occupy the Amazon basin.
“We have to have greatest practices,” Kuiru mentioned by an interpreter in the course of the Bloom dialogue. “We have to guarantee that Indigenous peoples are correctly compensated and that there’s respect and reciprocity within the assets which are extracted.”
An financial system in ‘service to life’
Indigenous enterprises embrace a unique view of financial success and progress than is often held by many companies, Kuiru mentioned. “We’re actually working ahead to an Indigenous financial system that’s in service to life, that’s not accumulative, that’s not about wealth accumulation but it surely’s about solidarity, it’s about conservation, it’s about reciprocity with life,” she mentioned.
Natura’s biodiversity coverage embeds rules for partaking with Indigenous folks, beginning with the precept of “free, prior and knowledgeable consent,” which supplies them the correct to approve or decline initiatives that might have an effect on their lands, territories and cultural rights, mentioned Natura’s Pinhati.
Since 2020, Natura has spent about $6.2 million on uncooked substances from the Amazon, and created an estimated $7.5 million in shared worth, in accordance with its annual report. Different practices that drive Natura’s work on biodiversity:
- Frequent face-to-face interactions with Indigenous communities, so questions and considerations will be addressed shortly and belief is fostered.
- Flexibility in enterprise practices. Natura used to purchase ingredient seeds, providing extra money to communities than they may obtain from promoting wooden from the bushes. It’s constructing small factories so communities can extract butter and oils, and drive extra income.
- Unbiased certification from the Union for Moral Biotrade. Up to now, Natura has performed assessments associated to 6 substances, 5 native species, two manufacturing programs and 14,000 farmers and wild collectors.
- An understanding of each cultural practices and native laws.
- Respect for established types of group, reminiscent of current neighborhood cooperatives.
- Endurance. Natura has 25 years of expertise interacting with Amazon communities. “You can not begin a relationship and cease after one 12 months,” Pinhati mentioned.