Since its founding in 2006, Nova Kaeru has played a decisive role in combating climate change and protecting ecosystems, with efforts aligned to reduce emissions and protect the natural vegetation of the Amazon Rainforest, its population, and the environment, in accordance with climate science.
One of Nova Kaeru’s primary raw materials is pirarucu leather. Thousands of tons of Amazonian pirarucu leather were purchased from 2007 until the end of 2020. The fish is primarily destined for food consumption. Thousands of families in the Amazon region rely on the capture and conservation of this fish for their survival, and sustainable fishing is one of the region’s main economic activities.
This demonstrates how the introduction of environmental legislation into the production system has been able to foster a positive relationship with the environment.
– Social Development –
There are various organizations and programs operating in many different areas of the Brazilian rainforest. Over a hundred communities and thousands of families survive in the riverside regions of Brazil through sustainable development and fishing.
These communities are responsible for preventing predatory fishing of the pirarucu, while also helping to preserve protected areas and countless species of Amazonian fauna and flora.
The areas surrounding the families of riverside producers have been collectively protected ever since. We acquire pirarucu leather directly from cooperatives formed by fishing families in the region. Our goal is to increase the economic value of the forest to protect it.
Associations like ACJ, AMURMAN, ASPROC, and others with which we also collaborate, coordinate and promote the sustainable management of pirarucu, ensuring that the benefits reach the fishing families directly. Today, more than 1,000 families represented in various associations are part of the project.
– THE PRACTICE OF SUSTAINABLE FISHING –
The Associations collect and subsidize IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) with data on the existing stock in each lake (number of adult and young animals) to issue the annual fishing quotas, which can reach up to 30% of the identified adults.
The collective construction of this work is also a demonstration of how sustainable fishery management projects should be implemented, in a shared and participatory manner between technical-scientific teams and fishers, highlighting the importance of the necessary dialogue between scientific research and traditional knowledge.
At times, it was necessary to adapt fishing materials that were being used predatory, create surveillance strategies to protect lake systems, and change attitudes towards the use of natural resources—all to ensure the conservation of species and the social maintenance of fishers.
Year after year, the positive results in the production and recovery of fish stocks demonstrate that conservation efforts, despite all difficulties, are not in vain.
All pirarucu leather is 100% deforestation-free.
– BENEFITS OF SUSTAINABLE FISHING PRACTICES –
- Reduction of deforestation and exploitation of natural resources;
- Sustainable management of rivers and lakes for subsistence and commercial purposes, with an annual increase in the availability of wild fish in the region—over 427% growth in the last ten years (data from the Mamirauá Institute);
- Dissemination of standard management technologies;
- Inclusion and empowerment of women in management projects;
- Recognition by national and international development agencies;
- Importance for the regional economy and the livelihood of thousands of riverside families;
- Preservation of protected areas and countless species of Amazonian fauna and flora;
- Reduction of rural exodus.
– PIRARUCU – THE BIOLEATHER –
Nova Kaeru can be considered a pioneer, both in Brazil and abroad, in what is known as organic tanning. This innovative process eliminates the use of chrome and other heavy metals during the tanning and re-tanning stages, combining natural oils as primary tanning agents, with tannins and others as secondary agents, and organic dyes in the coloring process.
WATER CONSUMPTION
Water is an important medium in the leather processing industry in general.
In the case of NK, due to the absence of environmentally harmful inputs in Organic Tanning, after a simple pH correction, the water is reused by being directed to irrigate the fields around the factory (NK is located in a rural area, 100 km from the city of Rio de Janeiro).
Leather is a byproduct of the pirarucu supply chain, where the primary focus is on utilizing the meat. Until the advent of NK and the subsequent transformation of the skin into leather, the skins were discarded as waste in nature.
