Sustainability of the Amazon Nut in Mato Grosso: An Application of the MuSIASEM Method

Thiago Vargas Maldonado, Francesca Allievi and Luiz Panhoca
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Thiago Vargas Maldonado: Social Applied Science Sector, Post-Graduation Accounting Program (PRPPG/UFPR), Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba 80210-170, Brazil
Francesca Allievi: School of Business, JAMK University of Applied Sciences, Rajakatu 35, 40200 Jyväskylä, Finland
Luiz Panhoca: Social Applied Science Sector, Post-Graduation Accounting Program (PRPPG/UFPR), Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba 80210-170, Brazil

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 17, 1-20

Abstract: The Amazon biome occupies 60% of Brazilian territory, configured as a complex metabolism due to its diversity and the history of occupation by humans in the exploitation of its services. The Amazon nut tree ( Bertholletia excelsa ) occurs in the entire Amazon biome, which is essential for its sustainability. The Amazon nut production chain in the northwest of the State of Mato Grosso presents itself as a relevant case of analysis of the extractive activity of non-timber forest products (NTFP). Based on interpretative assumptions, the multi-scale integrated analysis of societal and ecosystem metabolism (MuSIASEM) approach is applied to the data collected in a farmers’ cooperative. The objective of this study was to analyze the socio-environmental metabolism of the productive chain of the Amazon nut in the northwest region of the Mato Grosso State (MT) in Brazil. As the MuSIASEM approach can generate an integrated set of indicators measured at different scales and dimensions of analysis, the results show a lack of sustainability in the social dimension, in the environmental dimension, and the presence of intermediaries that serve companies that function as an illegal part of the metabolism. As a next step, the defined method needs testing on different NTFPs and in other micronarratives.

Keywords: Amazon nut; non-timber forest products; domestic work overload; eco-efficiency; environmental accounting; life cycle assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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