A growing human population is straining biological resources, economic inequities are favoring overexploitation of local resources, and these social problems are contributing significantly to the extinction of the species Euterpe in several forest fragments, as well as the near-extinction and disappearance of many animal species. Some of these species have been lost as a direct result of hunting by poachers as they harvest E. edulis, while others disappeared as a consequence of decreased food availability or by harmful changes in the structure of the food chain. For these reasons, advocates of environmental preservation strongly discourage the consumption of hearts of palm by North Americans.

Fortunately, acai has multiple stems, and can provide sustained, renewable harvests when harvesting is managed with sustainable, ecologically responsible methods. Harvesting acai fruit does not necessitate cutting the trees at all; in fact, if acai fruit becomes popular worldwide, it may hold the key to saving the acai forests of Brazil. Some companies are trying to use a9ai cultivation and marketing as a vehicle to preserve Amazon rainforests. At the vanguard of this movement is Ryan Black, a surfer/entrepreneur, who developed a sustainable acai-harvesting forest project over the last six years in partnership with the Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund. Over twenty thousand people living in the Lower Tocantins river basin have been beneficiaries of this program. Fifteen years ago, the state government installed the Tucurui Hydroelectric Dam with a devastating effect on their fishing income. After years of cooperation between the Federal University of Para and Black’s acai company (called Sambazon), over fifteen hundred families and a local nongovernmental organization called FASE formed a thriving sustainable forest project built around the acai palm tree to extract palm hearts and fruits. While they were working with the hearts of palm, the acai fruit was falling to the ground or being sold haphazardly to middlemen. Each of the four communities had almost zero income until 2001 when “sustainable acai” found its first market. These communities now bring in more than half a million dollars per year through cooperative bank accounts set up with the assistance of Black and his colleagues.

If managed correctly and cooperatively, the boom in North American acai consumption could preserve acai’s future (rather than deplete it with overharvesting) and contribute to the well-being of the local—and too-often-impoverished—communities that cultivate this wonderful tree that can provide healthful benefits to so many people

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Acai palm trees grow in clumps, the roots of which are formed by successive burgeoning from a single root, similar to bamboo. Each root can reach twenty feet in height. Above the trunk, the fruits are borne in clusters of hundreds. Each acai berry is round and about a half inch in diameter. The egg-shaped fruits grow clustered into bunches and are dark purple, almost black, when mature. Fruiting occurs throughout the year, with the greatest abundance during the dry season of July to December. The acai palm only bears fruit after its third year, with maximal productivity occurring in the fifth and sixth years.

More than Just a Palm Tree

The Para region of Brazil is the main habitat for the acai palm, but not the only one. Acai has many other common names, depending on the language and location where it is cultivated. In English, acai is sometimes referred to as cabbage palm. In Brazil, it’s known as acai, acai-do-para, acai-do-baixo Amazonas, acaizeiro, assai, jicara, jucara, palmiteiro, palmito acai, and piria. (Jucara and palmito more accurately refer to acai’s relative, Euterpe edulis Mart., another palm-bearing fruit with similar properties.) In Colombia, it’s known as assai, naidi, or manaca. In Suriname, it’s referred to as manaka, pina-palm, prasara, wapoe, and wasei. Acai is also found in French Guyana, Panama, Ecuador, and Trinidad.

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