Conexsus
Helping community enterprises in the Amazon to access markets
The Trafigura Foundation is enabling remote communities to protect their way of life as well as the previous ecosystems on which they depend by accessing markets for sustainable forest products.
The challenge
Escalating deforestation and land degradation in the Amazon threaten the livelihoods of its people as well as the integrity of its rich and valuable ecosystems. Halting and reversing these trends requires measures that simultaneously combat deforestation, safeguard the rights of local communities to their land and way of life, and foster their socioeconomic development.
Rural communities often find it hard to access markets for their produce (such as açai, Brazil nuts and cocoa). Moreover, local enterprises usually lack competitiveness and market linkages and fail to comply with procurement procedures and sustainability requirements.
The solution
Conexsus, a Brazilian civil society organisation, helps community enterprises in remote areas of the Amazon to gain business maturity and connect to national and international markets while increasing revenues for traditional livelihood. In doing so, it empowers them to become robust and resilient drivers of income generation, forest conservation, and the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Partnership impact
The Trafigura Foundation is supporting a Conexsus project to develop with stakeholders a set of requirements and commercial protocols that will enable community enterprises to build stronger commercial relationships. The project will also create a tool for businesses to better monitor and report on the socioeconomic and environmental benefits of their activities. This will increase their ability to communicate the added value of their products. It will also work on measures to improve community enterprises’ access to finance.
The partnership aims to:
- Improve the livelihoods of 4,000 community members by increasing the business maturity for community enterprises and their average annual revenue.
Two-year grant (2023-2024)
