This article was updated throughout on May 15 with comments from Terratai.
Indonesian venture builder Terratai has invested in Dutch cosmetics company Forestwise to help establish a market for a more sustainable alternative to cocoa butter, in a bid to tackle deforestation.
The investment of $450,000 aims to boost Forestwise’s efforts to distribute illipe butter, a more sustainable and traceable alternative to cocoa butter, derived from illipe nuts, the companies said in a press release.
“We believe the Forestwise model to be highly scalable. We are sourcing only a fraction of the available nuts in the region at this point,” Estherina Daniel, senior advisor at Terratai told Carbon Pulse.
The wild-harvested illipe nuts come from giant rainforest tree Shorea stenoptera, which can only be found in Borneo.
The initiative will collect nature metrics including:
- Number of at-risk species
- Ecosystem services
- Number of hectares with nature protection
- Sequestered tonnes of CO2
The partnership will enable over 1,000 illipe nut collectors to harvest over an area of around 200,000 hectares.
The illipe tree plays an important role in the ecology on the island alongside the traditions of Indigenous Dayak communities.
“Forestwise has been working with local Dayak communities in the area for over a decade, including in some cases conservation agreements which support the protection of illipe trees,” said Daniel.
Forestwise and Terratai believe the income from illipe nuts, alongside other wild-harvested rainforest products, could double the income of farmers with fewer financial, environmental, and social costs than monoculture plantations.
Wild harvesting involves collecting crops from plants growing naturally in areas not maintained in plantations.
“Forestwise have a unique ability to create meaningful progress to halt and restore critically important forests in Kalimantan and support local communities, all while bringing these unique commodities to a global market,” said Matt Leggett, CEO of Terratai.
Terratai will support Forestwise on its mission of achieving resilient growth, securing investments from other investors, and measuring the climate and biodiversity benefits of their methods in West Kalimantan.
“This collaboration with Terratai marks a significant milestone in our journey towards sustainable rainforest conservation,” said Dirk-Jan Oudshoorn, CEO of Forestwise.
“With their support, we are confident in our ability to scale our impact, diversify our product portfolio, and create lasting value for both communities and the environment.”
Terratai focuses on small businesses delivering nature-based solutions. As Asia’s “first venture builder for nature”, it received over $2 million from the philanthropic arms of banks UBS Optimus and SwissRe in November, following backing from Hong Kong family office RS Group.
Almost 1.4 mln km of unmapped ‘ghost roads‘ are threatening tropical forests, researchers found in a study of the islands of Borneo, Sumatra, and New Guinea published last month.
Cocoa has been associated with significant deforestation in West Africa, particularly on the Ivory Coast, alongside child labour.
By Thomas Cox – t.cox@carbon-pulse.com
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