Page 87 - Mediterraneo e dintorni - 2-2020

“super food” thanks to its nutritional properties: for
this reason, its demand at national and international
level is constantly growing. The non-profit organi-
zation intervenes throughout the supply chain, sup-
porting the associations of collectors so that they can
obtain a fair sale price of the product; supporting the
processing factories in effective plans for business
development and management; promoting collabora-
tions with environmental research institutes with the
aim of spreading agro-forestry practices that preserve
the forest integrity necessary for the survival of the
walnut tree. In this way, 20,760 hectares of Amazo-
nian forest are protected: an indispensable green lung
to which we owe the capture of large quantities of car-
bon dioxide in exchange for the return of oxygen. It is
an example of a circular economy that restores hope
and trust for the fate of the environment.
The photographs of Guardians of the Forest are a testi-
mony full of suggestions. The story unfolds through
the everyday moments of the castañeros, the Amazo-
nian walnut pickers. Shot after shot parade, under the
gaze, the maintenance of the forest where the natives
get everything they need to live, the phase of the fruit
harvest, the waiting and the celebration of the elder-
ly when their children return with the sacks of wal-
nuts, marketing. “I still think about that little girl
with tenderness and I don’t stop thanking her inside
me for the opportunity she gave me,” says Roger Lo
Guarro. “From this experience - he adds - I have drawn
an important lesson for all of us who live in the indu-
strialized West. The indigenous communities do not
have the internet, they are light years away from the
avalanche of information available to us, yet they are
the depositories of a wealth of knowledge that feeds a
profound environmental culture: we must refer to this
to safeguard our future ».

Guardians of the forest is a traveling exhibition.
To know dates and appointments: www.cesvi.org

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