NATURA is the largest Brazilian company in the cosmetics sector and pursued development of a product line (EKOS) using non-wood forest products extracted on a sustainable basis, mostly from the Amazon forest. Between August 2000 and November 2002, JGP assisted NATURA through development of social and environmental sustainability analysis of rural and/or indigenous communities with potential to become suppliers. This included detailed baseline work with a strong anthropological focus, coupled to detailed biological assessments of the forest resources to be exploited and of the limits of sustainable extraction. The assessments also focused on verification of compliance with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) principles.
In total, seven non-wood products and associated communities were assessed in order to establish the probable environmental and social impacts of supplying to NATURA on a long-term basis. These assessments covered an equally diverse set of non-wood forest products. Detailed Forest Management Plans (FMPs) were also prepared for Buriti oil extraction at Palmeiras do Piauí and Brazil Nut oil extraction at the Iratapuru River Reservation. This latter FMP resulted in the first FSC certification of a non-wood forest product in Brazil.