Overview:
NESsT and R20 Green Fund for Women (R20-GFW) joined forces to support the development of the bioeconomy and to improve women’s social and financial inclusion in the Andes-Amazon region by bringing gender-smart funding directly to sustainable enterprises born in the region. These business initiatives have innovative solutions that promote climate-resilient agricultural practices, advance gender inclusion in value chains, and improve income stability for thousands of indigenous and other traditional forest communities.
The Amazon rainforest regulates the earth’s oxygen and carbon cycles and is a major source of food, energy, and medicine for the world. Recent data shows that it is dangerously close to a “tipping point of no return” where trees may begin to die off en masse, directly threatening the survival of millions of people and wildlife species in the forest.
NESsT Amazonia is one of NESsT’s flagship programs that finances and accelerates small agricultural businesses in the Andes-Amazon basin that promote biodiversity and improve the social and economic conditions of local and indigenous communities in Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador.
R20-GFW is an initiative launched by the NGO R20 to support women's empowerment in the transition to a green economy.
The Amazon rainforest is home to an extraordinary variety of species – from the Euglossine bees that pollinate Brazil nut flowers to nutrient-rich cacao plants consumed by billions of people worldwide. These lifeforms play crucial ecological roles in maintaining the balance of the immense ecosystem that regulates the world’s oxygen and carbon cycles and is a major source of food, energy, and medicine for life on earth.
While the rainforest serves as an anchor for major global systems, around 17% of its biome has already been destroyed, bringing it dangerously close to a “tipping point of no return” where trees may begin to die off en masse. Much of its current biodiversity and habitat loss is due to unsustainable land clearing projects such as logging, agriculture, cattle ranching, mining, oil extraction, and dam-building. Without the forest’s nourishment, cleared lands become barren and could take up to 60 years to restore, threatening the livelihoods of indigenous communities who depend on the forest’s resources for their survival.
NESsT and R20 Green Fund for Women (R20-GFW) joined forces to support the development of the bioeconomy and to improve women’s social and financial inclusion in the Andes-Amazon region. By bringing gender-smart financial resources directly to local business solutions that hire women and sustainably extract and process resources native to the Amazon, the partnership seeks to chart a climate-safe future for the world while ensuring the economic empowerment and equitable growth of local indigenous communities.
“The partnership seeks to amplify indigenous stewardship for the environment and improve women’s inclusion by directly investing in local business initiatives, helping forest inhabitants to sustainably and equitably manage their living territories.””
These business initiatives have innovative solutions that promote climate-resilient agricultural practices, advance gender inclusion in value chains, and improve income stability for thousands of indigenous and other traditional forest communities.
“We are delighted with this partnership, which we hope fruitful, and we wish to place particular emphasis on helping to empower women. “ — Michèle Sabban, R20 Green Fund for Women
Foto: Lucrătorii ASSOAB procesează nuci de Brazilia
One company in the NESsT Amazonia portfolio is the woman-led association Associação dos Agropecuários de Beruri (ASSOAB). This association acquires raw Brazil nuts from more than 350 collecting families from the indigenous land Itixi Mitari and the sustainable development reserve (RDS) Piagaçú-Purus.
Another example is Associação dos Produtores Rurais de Carauri (ASPROC), an association that supports local riverine communities to produce and sell biodiverse products sourced exclusively from the rainforest, including pirarucu fish, manioc flour, natural rubber, and açaí.
By aligning their business goals with social and environmental benefits for the millions of people and wildlife living in the Amazon rainforest, the NESsT Amazonia portfolio enterprises are shaping and modeling new ways of doing business in the rainforest and charting a sustainable future for the world.
“These investments will also foster long-term collaboration that translates into lasting transformative changes that can stabilize forest loss, generating global benefits that ensure the survival of the planet. “ ”
Despre NESsT
NESsT invests in high-impact, high-growth small businesses in emerging markets with growing economies but persistent inequality. One of its flagship programs, NESsT Amazonia, finances and accelerates small agricultural businesses in the Andes-Amazon basin that promote biodiversity and improve the social and economic conditions of local indigenous communities in Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador.
Since 1997, NESsT has incubated and financed 223 enterprises to sustain more than 77,000 formal jobs targeting vulnerable women, at-risk youth, smallholder farmers, and minorities. Our organization has impacted a total of 24,000 entrepreneurs and improved 910,000 lives across 50 countries. NESsT targets employment creation in the following areas: Climate change through regenerative agriculture, circular economy, and green jobs; Gender equity through the economic empowerment of women; and Workforce development through the diversity and inclusion of underserved talent.
About R20 Green Fund for Women
R20-GFW is an initiative launched by the NGO R20 to support women's empowerment in the transition to a green economy. The R20 fights for equal access for men and women to green jobs and clean energy technologies, better nutrition, water, and energy security, and better access to natural resources. It also promotes the improvement of health standards at the departmental level around the world. The R20 Green Fund for Women contributes to the implementation of low-carbon renewable energy and energy efficiency projects led by women to promote a sustainable green economy and better practices in sustainable development, public health, mobility, and the creation of jobs in the context of energy transition.
