« At first, I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees...
...then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon forest. Now I know I'm fighting for humanity. »
— Chico Mendes, leading activist in the struggle to protect the Amazon forest. Assassinated by land owners because of his beliefs
The Amazon is the only place on Earth where rubber trees grow in the wild. In the Brazilian state of Acre, the seringueiros, rubber tappers, harvest the rubber used in VEJA soles.
The seringueiros live in the forest and depend on it for survival. Every morning, they make their way through the forest they have the authorization to harvest and tap the rubber trees following a path only them know about. This circuit allows the trees to regenerate. On average, each seringueiro harvests 25L of rubber per day.
Since 2007, VEJA has been working with Amopreab, which coordinates rubber production and pays the seringueiros in the Chico Mendes Reserve. In the state of Acre, VEJA also works with two other associations: « Parque da Cigana » & « Seringal Curralinho ». Today, 120 member families are part of our project.