Sustainability Report 2004

Economic and social aspects

Social action | Social inclusion

Objective: support programs for social inclusion of needy youths and persons with special needs

  • Children from needy families: 716 children and teenagers at social risk in Espírito Santo and the south of Bahia were helped through school tutoring programs and the development of artistic and cultural skills through the Forming Citizens, Araçá, Children of the Earth, and Berimbau projects.
  • Persons with special needs: expansion of the cafeteria and the construction of two new classrooms at the Pestalozzi Society in Teixeira de Freitas, Bahia, to provide services for 171 people with special needs through the Rehabilitate Project. These projects led to the enrollment of an additional 48 persons in the program.
  • BrincArte Project: encourages/supports the children and teenagers participating in art and woodworking workshops in professional training projects supported by the Company. In association with Community Action of Espírito Santo (ACES), some 3,000 educational toys are produced by the participants themselves using Lyptus wood and distributed to children enrolled in the Company’s social projects.
  • Holiday season greeting cards: the program encourages artistic expression of children in the public school system and participants in social projects that Aracruz supports. The best drawings are selected to illustrate the Company’s holiday season cards, produced by Community Action of Brazil.

Objective: support nutritional security and local production programs

  • Production of seedlings: 260,000 native species seedlings produced through the Community Nursery Project were sold and the income returned to the respective associations.
  • Family farming: eight communities in Bahia were the beneficiaries of initiatives of the Agricultural Project in conjunction with municipal governments and community associations. Benefits included increased productivity of short cycle crops and the increased use of associations and programs for the harvesting and sale of citrus fruits. We have entered into agreements with indigenous communities in Espírito Santo, supporting their agricultural projects. In addition, Aracruz financed a technical assistance program for their projects, carried out by the Society of Agronomists of Espírito Santo and the municipal government of Aracruz.
  • Apiculture: the pilot project for production of honey on the Company’s forest plantations – Apicultura Solidária – initiated at Aracruz with four beekeepers producing 250 kg of honey, was the spur to its expansion in 2005 to other locations in Espírito Santo and the Extreme South of Bahia.
  • This will provide additional income to farmers and communities in general. In the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the existing initiative is designed to donate the honey to the Association of Parents of Handicapped Youths (APAE) and other special teaching institutions in seven municipalities.
  • The agricultural use of industrial wastes: 455 tons of lime were donated to farmers in partnership with the Agricultural Federation of Espírito Santo and the Union of Rural Producers.
  • Nutritional supplements: 150,000 hatchery fish were donated to the Secretariat of Agriculture of Espírito Santo, in partnership with Arapeixe.

Objective: support social and cultural development

  • Community projects: the redevelopment of the Barra do Riacho Community Association headquarters site was the most important individual investment in response to requests received to help in community welfare projects.
  • Income generation: various community projects such as the cultivation of malagueta pepper, the creation of a community vegetable garden, the collection of eucalyptus residues and the reform of the Linharinho Flour Mill were sponsored by Aracruz, with a positive impact on the targeted populations.
  • Culture: Recovery of indigenous culture – the support for artistic expression of the Guarani Indians, subsequently extended to the Tupinikim community of Espírito Santo, involving the public display of their work. Brazil’s National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) also supported this project.
  • Leisure: we supported Farroupilha Week in Rio Grande do Sul and donated the labor for building a pier for the municipal government of Guaíba. Support for the Guaíba Sprint Triathlon resulted in the collection of 1,230 kg of non-perishable foods for the Secretariat for Social Action. Four tons of pulp sheets were donated for manual labor purposes. In Espírito Santo, we supported social and sports activities in various communities.