Our first taste of Açaí energized not only our bodies, but stimulated our minds. We learned that locals could earn more harvesting Açaí than clear-cutting the forest. Sustainable development was happening right before our eyes and we knew there was an opportunity for more significant change. Realizing that we could help promote the preservation of the Amazon Rainforest and contribute to the positive economic chain reaction that benefits the indigenous people, our mission began by sharing this remarkable fruit with the rest of the world.

Using Açaí as a vehicle to promote and further sustainability we have teamed up with groundbreaking companies and international organizations dedicated to developing cooperation and positive exchange in the Amazon and beyond. Sambazon is one viable solution of how you, the locals and the Rainforest can reap the benefits of a truly magical fruit while protecting and enhancing the future for all.

The journey began when we experienced açaí with local surfers during a trip to celebrate the new millennium in Brazil. Amazed by the natural energy and nutritional benefits of this amazing fruit, we were quickly hooked. Our last night in Brazil, we started working on a plan to share açaí with the world and in early 2000, Sambazon was formed.

We scraped together enough money to buy a container of frozen pulp and some marketing fliers and began trying to convince juice bars in Southern California that açaí was the real deal. By the end of that first summer, over 50 juice bars were selling Sambazon Açaí Smoothies. We started expanding all over the country, approaching the best juice bars we could find in places like South Beach, New York City, Boulder, and Oahus North Shore. We did endless samplings, demos and promo events, and people loved it.

Today our products are sold in virtually every health food store, juice bar and conventional grocery store in the U.S. and we continue to work hard to spread the word about açaí.

In Brazil, we have been working with the local NGOs to build the supply of organic and sustainable açaí. Over 10,000 people in the Amazon help us harvest açaí through our certified organic program. These people now have an incentive to manage their land and protect it for generations to come.

"There is no one solution to save the Amazon rainforest. A wide range of sustainable and effective initiatives are needed to keep the forest alive and this can only be achieved if economic alternatives and solutions to destructive logging can be found....The tasty dark violet wine ( of açaí ) is the most important non-wood forest product in terms of money from the river delta of the Amazon". -Greenpeace.org

We encourage individuals and institutions to support social, environmental and scientific programs that will both preserve the Amazon and unlock its potential to aid mankind.

We are very grateful that we have been given the opportunity to share this incredible fruit with the world and we want to say thank you to all those that have supported us along the way.

Sincerely,
Team Sambazon

The Sustainable Amazon Partnership is a public and private collaboration to promote lasting sustainable management of the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest.

Sambazon started the Sustainable Amazon Partnership (SAP) as part of our market-driven conservation business model in the Amazon Rainforest. The SAP promotes forest stewardship, creates new jobs, improves living conditions and offers educational opportunities for thousands of small family farmers through the sustainable management of the Açaí palm tree.

Since SAP’s inception we have be able to:

• Create a positive economic exchange for over 1,100 local family farmers by providing an alternative sustainable income source to logging, cattle, and monoculture plantations.

• Promote sustainable development through environmental stewardship on over 1.7 million acres of agro-forestry farms via USDA Organic guidelines, fair trade business practices and wild crop harvesting standards.

• Support women in local cooperatives who make açaí seed jewelry as a means to supplement their income and help bring them above the poverty line.

• Establish and monitor biosocial indicators to benchmark the impact of açaí trade; these indicators continue to show that wild harvesting of açaí has a positive contribution to social, environmental and economic conditions.

• Develop and implement sustainability programs with the local family farmers such as agro-forestry training to demonstrate sustainable use of non-timber forest products abundant on their lands and to help protect biodiversity.

SAP works with industry partners, such as Tarte Cosmetics and Veev Spirits, as well as non-profit partners, such as the Peabiru Institute and Brazil Foundation, to collaborate on initiatives and increase the overall positive impact in the Amazon.

Click here to make a donation to the Sustainable Amazon Partnership (SAP). In the ‘Donor Advised’ field please be sure to write SAP to ensure your donation is directed towards the program.