BVRio partnership sees certified wood trophy included in Brazilian football championship
BVRio in partnership with the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) secured the inclusion of a trophy made from sustainable and certified wood in one of Brazil’s biggest regional football championships, the Nordeste Cup 2022.
Through our Design & Sustainable Wood Initiative, we connected artisans from the Furniture Manufacturer, Anambé, in the State of Pará, in the Amazon, with the renowned designer Carlos Motta to produce the trophy using native wood from the Amazon forest. The trophy was awarded to the player who scored the ‘Goal of the Competition’, Luciano Juba, of the winning team Fortaleza, which beat Sport Club Recife by 1-0 on Sunday (03/04) and won the Nordeste Cup 2022, undefeated.
Similar trophies made of certified native wood have been awarded in the Brazilian Copa Verde (Green Cup) since 2018, also through BVRio’s initiative. “The trophy is designed to help spread the values of sustainable development to football fans. We believe that sports, especially football, are a great way to start conversations about the green economy. The Nordeste Cup hosting our initiative is an honour for us.” says Renato Castro Santos, Manager of BVRio’s Design & Sustainable Wood Initiative.
For Daniela Vilela, Executive Director of FSC Brazil, this type of initiative is essential to show as many people as possible that caring for the forest and sustainability is not something difficult; “Everyone can do their part by choosing what they buy, for example, in a more conscious way, and, in this case, knowledge is key to business and using football to inform is a genuine achievement.”
“The idea is to broaden this discussion more and more,” adds Carlos Henrique Rodrigues Alves, sustainability consultant for the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). He also agrees that football is a powerful tool for education about sustainability and that any action that sheds light on the subject is relevant.
The Nordeste Cup also embraces other social and environmental causes, such as campaigns against hunger and the spread of Chagas disease. In addition to the sustainable trophy, the tarps used in the games will be donated to the Group of Environmental Interest – GIA and transformed into backpacks and other products.
The story behind the trophy
A partner of BVRio’s Design & Sustainable Wood Initiative, the cooperative Coomflona produced the trophy and has had the 100% community FSC seal for forest management since 2013, proving the importance of small producers in forest conservation. The furniture factory is a community enterprise managed by the Mixed Cooperative of the Tapajós National Forest in Pará.
Currently, about 200 people work in Coomflona within forest management. The cooperative says to have seen advances over the past 10 years in decreasing deforestation and increasing income and access to education.
