The Pajaro Jai Foundation     Espanol

The summer of 1995 marked the debut in the United States of the furniture products from the factory in La Palma, Panama. The benches, chairs, and coffee tables were displayed at Ocean Wood Gallery in Birch Harbor, Maine to an enthusiastic public. The furniture factory is part of a Pajaro Jai Foundation (PJF) project with the Chocoe Indian village of Mogue.

"It's wonderful to have furniture built from these unique woods," states Jim Brunton, PJF president, "The satin blood red color of Nazareno, the rich yellow-gold of Pino Amarillo, the coral hue of almond, all provide the consumer with unique choices, while the design emphasizes comfort and strength of joinery, so that we've created a hardwood bench that you can sit in for hours, with mortise and tenon or doweled joints which give it inherent strength without metal fasteners."

The Message Behind the Furniture

The beauty and quality of these pieces can compete in any market on their own merits; but there is an underlying story here that makes the furniture truly irresistible: The benches are end-products of a PJF project designed to benefit both the rainforest and the people of the village of Mogue in the Darien. The project involves working with local inhabitants in setting up small scale furniture factories to create very high quality products for sale in world wide markets.

While furniture factories and rainforest conservation seem at first to be mutually exclusive, a close look at the economics of survival in the Darien reveals that wise use of available resources can replace wasteful practices, with a net positive impact on both the rainforest and the local standard of living.

The project combines "sustainable development" with "value added" economics to achieve a healthy balance between humanity and ecology.

Sustainable Development

Sustainable development is the term scientists, conservationists, and policy makers now use to define the blending of economic and social realities with conservation methods to achieve positive impact on the natural environment and to empower local inhabitants as stewards of the land.

Sustainable development does not preclude using the natural resources of a region, but manages and markets them carefully in a way which makes conservation an end result. The furniture factory will be closely linked to the source of materials, driving harvesting methods and locations, as well as reforestation programs, with long term vision.

Although the concept of sustainable development has appeared only recently in conservation literature, it has long been the basis of PJF projects (see "about the PJF"). The PJF's furniture factory project with the village of Mogue is one of the first sustainable development projects in the Darien.

Value Added Processing

The PJF recognizes that the call to conserve tropical forests comes from developed countries who have everything to gain from such action, and very little to lose. Yet the burden of carrying out such action often falls on the shoulders of local populations who have everything to lose and very little to gain. This creates an instability which often dooms conservation efforts.

By adding value to local resources, the PJF hopes to provide local inhabitants who practice conservation with more gain and less loss.

The under-valuation of natural resources is one of the major problems facing conservation efforts worldwide. In the Darien, families struggle to survive using the only technology available to them - slash and burn agriculture - and view the rain forest as a major obstacle.

After all, where rice, corn, and cattle are more valuable than trees and other flora and fauna, rice, corn and cattle will prevail.

The PJF aims to introduce technology which will enhance the value of specific rainforest products so that they will contribute to the well-being of the local population instead of to the earth's carbon dioxide blanket.

At the same time, the PJF works to define and create an end-product market which depends for its success on clearly defined sustainability.

The furniture factory is a good example of value added processing. The fine furniture can earn $10,000 to $20,000 per tree for the local inhabitants, replacing a technology that earns them at most a few hundred dollars per tree.

A profound change in perspective is inevitable as the trees become valuable resources instead of obstacles to slash and burn agriculture.

The ecological benefits are further enhanced in this PJF project with Mogue, because a percentage of retail profits are used to fund other conservation projects. This is a win-win situation!

The importance of the explicit link between the health of the rainforest and success in the marketplace, however, cannot be over emphasized. Without it, the project could defeat itself with its own success by causing a rush to capitalize on existing trees without regard for conservation.

Value added processing imparts an incentive for managing or protecting natural resources. Fewer trees can be harvested for a much greater gain. This translates into a less destructive way to make a living, and addresses one of the root problems of rain forest destruction, yet this concept has seen little implementation. Success in Mogue may set an example for sound conservation efforts elsewhere.

The Project Status

Currently the furniture is available in limited quantities as we are still investigating markets and designing new products.