About us
Our Mission
Promote a skill that generates income and enables environmental stewardship
Through the Amazomel project, NTFP promotes organic stingless beekeeping that generates a sustainable, eco-friendly alternative income for rainforest residents. The bees are a vital source of pollination to fuel the varied flora of the rainforest, contributing to biodiversity, while their honey and its derivatives (pollen and propolis) are important food and medicinal products in the local culture, which the beekeepers can consume, transform, or sell. In so doing, rainforest communities no longer resort to destructive practices like cutting trees to raise cattle or working in dangerous industrial forestry concerns.
With Amazomel, NFTP aims to create a replicable model that can help other rainforest communities save their ancestral homes and preserve these ecosystems for all of us who rely on their unparalleled contribution to staving off the ravages of climate change.
More money for communities
Provide an alternative, inclusive, and sustainable income source to indigenous people and local communities enabling them to be financially empowered.
More bees in trees
Preserve Amazon biodiversity, especially native stingless bees, by expanding meliponiculture & beekeeping activities within indigenous people and local communities.
More impact in your honey
Save the Amazon rainforest, one, from tipping to a carbon source, by supporting ecosystem restoration & forest cover through respectful & organic management of native stingless bees.
Goals
Our Vision
Eliminate poverty while preserving the rainforest
NTFP Foundation aims to bring its successful Amazomel model of forest-preserving, environmentally-sustainable economic development to other communities and countries. In Brazil, the more than 450 families participating in the venture have doubled their annual incomes. To scale this impact and benefit to other climate-critical ecosystems and populations, the Foundation is exploring possible engagements with additional indigenous people and local communities in Brazil, Peru, and Uganda. In so doing, NTFP Foundation seeks to create a global network of thousands of forest guardians in the global south while providing safe, meaningful employment, self-sufficiency, and financial independence to millions of individuals.
Our Team & Values
Management Team
Dieter J. Bratschi
As a Swiss forestry engineer, Dieter’s passion for the Amazon drives him to preserve the rainforest while creating sustainable income for locals. As co-founder and Board President of the Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) Foundation, he has funded a honey factory, donated beehives, and promoted beekeeping courses. For over 20 years, he has visited annually, reinforcing his commitment.
“My wish is for the people of the Amazon to thrive and build a future through sustainable beekeeping, ensuring future generations can benefit from the forest’s rich biodiversity.”
João Fernandez
CO-FOUNDER & CEO AMAZOMEL, BIOLOGIST
Co-founder of Amazomel, João is a biologist and agricultural technician with a deep passion for meliponiculture, dedicating over 23 years to the field. He has led major projects in northern Brazil, advancing stingless bee farming. A strong advocate for sustainable practices, he transforms predatory honey extraction into eco-friendly methods, supporting riverine families with alternative incomes while promoting biodiversity conservation, sustainability, and resilience for future generations.
Dangela M.A. de Lima
CFO, QUALITY MANAGER AMAZOMEL, BIOLOGIST
Dangela, a biologist and agricultural technician, is a key figure at Amazomel. Specializing in meliponiculture, she has led innovative projects to boost stingless bee honey production. Her expertise and commitment to sustainability have driven techniques that enhance honey yields while ensuring bee colony health. As a cornerstone of Amazomel’s mission, she integrates superior quality with environmental responsibility, reinforcing our leadership in ethical, sustainable honey production worldwide.
Delci Freire
Jonilson Lorai
Advisors
Prof. Thomas Stocker
Profa. Vanessa
Boanada Fuchs
The Amazomel community consists of 472 rainforest families, all along the Amazon River, within a perimeter of 640 km from Manaus
What are Amazonel Core Values?
COMMUNITY
Proximity to rural & indigenous people, sense of belonging, sharing a common story.
RESPECT
Respect of Amazonas nature and ecosystems, of indigenous people and local communities’ culture, and of customers health.
ADVENTURE
A journey through the jungle, through human relationships, through self-discovery, through regenerative economy.
Amazomel Mindset
Steward Leadership
Interdependence
Dieter, Joao & Dangela think way bigger than themselves. They fully understand that no individual or organization can succeed or be safe in isolation in today’s highly connected and interdependent world. That’s why Amazomel is convinced about the power of inclusive collaboration, just as nature works. At Amazomel, “everything is connected”: Melipona culture & forestation, community prosperity & woman empowerment, financial development & good health.
Long-term view
Driving inclusive win-win-win growth is a marathon rather than a sprint. Healthy, resilient and purpose-driven socio-economic development takes time. Amazomel’ beekeeping activities are aligned with nature’ pace, 100% organic and turned towards a truly authentic vision of reempowering local communities by safeguarding Amazon rainforest.
Ownership Mentality
Amazomel Management Team don’t wait for nature to change or opportunities to come: they take proactive responsibility to make stewardship happen. We recognize the level of intensity and urgency of the environmental crises, and we take ownership to this universal challenge by contributing at our scale, promoting collaboration between Global South & Global North, and spreading a spirit of initiative.
Creative Resilience
Developing a new socio-economic model in the middle of the jungle isn’t as smooth as the Amazon River. It requires creativity to get around the pitfalls, but above all resilience in the face of external factors such as drought or heat waves. Amazomel is constantly seeking to improve its logistics to unforeseen circumstances to guarantee beekeeping activities.
Amazomel 5 Key Principles
Transparency
We communicate transparently and measure the effects of our activities.
Knowledge-sharing
We promote environmental education and scientific practices.
Quality
Our products are certified to have the highest quality.
Accountability
We hold us accountable for what we do&are aware sustainability-related challenges.
Impact
We strive to maximize positive impacts for every pole of sustainability.
"With the help of Amazomel & NTFP, we are now able to multiply and diffuse bee’s boxes within our community to increase our involvement and expand the partnership. This helps a lot not only our population, but also other communities in the territory of Andira-Marau. Our vision for the future is to expand even more in other rivers part, so that we can strengthen our own source of revenue in the entire indigenous land."
Leonson
Satéré-Mawé Community Chief
Our Journey
Founded in 2002 by Swiss Forester, Dieter Bratschi, NTFP began to supply beehives to interested families to help keep their beloved forest home intact, while promoting pollination that keeps the biodiverse flora and fauna of this vital ecosystem thriving.
Dieter’s love of Brazil and the rainforest began with his first visit to the region as a young Master’s student at the renowned ETH University in Zurich. His passion for the local culture and the wonders of the jungle inspired him to devote his expertise to ensuring the sustainability of both.NFTP began raising funds to provide starter hives, training in organic beekeeping, and technical assistance to the new beekeepers, who sold the honey and its pollen and propolis locally. They also enjoyed it for its nutritional and medicinal properties.
In 2020, Amazomel was created to take on local collection, administration, and sales. In 2022, NTFP and the local Amazomel team opened a newly constructed, ederally certified honey processing facility in Manaus, Brazil. Since then, the Amazomel team on the ground has been processing the honey to ensure that it meets all purity standards for local and export sale.
Thanks to this successful Swiss-Brazilian partnership, 472 Amazonas rainforest families and 4 employees in Manaus are supported with fair incomes, safe work, and the pride that comes from saving one of the most important ecosystems in the world. That this is just the beginning! In the years ahead, NTFP plans to expand the Amazomel model within Brazil and to other at-risk forest areas in South America and Africa, creating a purpose-driven network of thousands of forest stewards.
Roadmap & Milestones
Our Business Model
NTFP Foundation: Enabling a pragmatic, multifocal approach to
economic and environmental wellbeing for rainforest
In 2002, Dieter, founder of the Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) Foundation, saw a clear problem: Rain Forest communities. Then, as today, Dieter saw a clear problem: RainForest communities – the traditional stewards of the land – were struggling to secure sustainable subsistence livelihoods. In so doing, many were turning to cattle-raising, dangerous jobs in industrial forestry, or leaving the forest altogether to find work in nearby cities. He saw the rainforest & a culture at risk.
Dieter and NTFP Foundation began to explore projects that would drive this “triple win,” and Amazomel was born in 2020. NFTP Foundation provides funding to establish organic beekeeping practices with the stingless Melipona bee (which is native to the rainforest) with starter hives, training, and technical assistance. In 2022 NTFP built a certified honey processing facility in Manaus to ready the honey for local and export sale.
NFTP funds essential infrastructure, training, start-up material, and technical assistance to create local entrepreneurs in the set-up of their beekeeping enterprises. The result: local entrepreneurs generate food and medicinal products for their own use or sale without harming the ecosystem they treasure. Further, the program broadly contributes to 8 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals
Amazomel - a hybrid business model with an upside-down value chain that favors local entrepreneurs
The project aims to turn the established value chain “upside down” and ensure that most of the economic gains flow back to the rainforest and indigenous communities through higher honey prices; to the local employees of Amazomel in the form of higher salaries; and to local businesses in terms of acquired goods and services.
At the same time, NFTP will provide guidance to ensure that proper reserves are established to mitigate the effects of drought, fires, and other natural or manmade events that compromise the wellbeing of the bees, colonies, and honey supply, as well as plan for essential upgrades and expansion of the Manaus processing facility.
GRAPHIC I: AMAZOMEL OPERATING MODEL WITH THE BASE/INITIAL SERVICES AND OFFERINGS