Connecting businesses and biodiversity conservation through community organizing: The case of babassu breaker women in Brazil

We investigate the role of community organizing in connecting business activities and biodiversity conservation. We draw from a unique setting in the Brazilian Amazonia Legal (Legal Amazon)-the traditional community of quebradeiras de coco do babacu (babassu nut breaking women), or quebradeiras-to show how this community connects the subsistence activity of breaking babassu palm tree nuts with local and global value chains (GVCs) in the cosmetics industry. As a consequence of multidimensional community organizing and local/global business connections, we show not only the ways in which biodiversity conservation has been realized in a large area of the Amazon but also how the quebradeiras have developed organizational activities that address persistent social, economic, and environmental challenges. Through community organizing, the quebradeiras maintain a traditional activity, connect with GVCs, and protect the biodiversity of the regional ecosystem. We thus call attention to the impact of business on strengthening community organizing and fostering biodiversity conservation.

Automated summary

This study examines the role of community organizing in connecting business activities and biodiversity conservation. Using a traditional community in the Brazilian Amazon as an example, the study shows how the community connects their subsistence activity of breaking palm tree nuts with local and global value chains in the cosmetics industry. Through community organizing, the community not only achieves biodiversity conservation, but also addresses social, economic, and environmental challenges.