Within Ecuador, vegetable ivory was at the center of a project founded in 1990 by Conservation International. Called the Tagua Initiative® after the indigenous name for vegetable ivory, the project has received recognition from the United Nations Environment Program for sustainable development.

Initially established to help protect the Cotacach-Cayapas Ecological Reserve, the project has since expanded into the Machalilla National Park on Ecuador's central Pacific coast with the participation of some 2,000 local people. The Tagua Initiative promotes this ecological use of the rain forest by linking rural harvesters of the tagua nut with international button, jewelry and carving manufacturers.

Ecuador has historically been the world's leading exporter of vegetable ivory. Despite the high level of exportation, the collection of tagua nuts is a simple process that doesn't damage the palms or surrounding forest. The nuts form in large pods, which, when mature, fall naturally to the ground. Taking advantage of this cycle, harvesters merely have to collect the pods from the forest floor.

Since its conception, the Tagua Initiative has sold over 190 million commercially produced buttons, 80,000 hand-made buttons and 10,000 pounds of whole nuts to artisans and wood workers. In addition, a cottage industry of hand-crafted buttons and jewelry has blossomed locally, providing employment and additional incentives to preserve the rain forest.

After being collected from the forest, the nuts are dried in the sun for one to three months prior to distribution. At this stage, they have a creamy, milky appearance. As vegetable ivory ages, this milky interior darkens. By the time it reaches the ripe old age of 30, the nut has taken on the appearance of dark wood.

A Colombian family, the Bonillas, has been working vegetable ivory for three generations. They've been involved in the industry ever since their ancestor Horencio Bonilla, a carpenter, discovered the nuts in 1917 while walking along the Magdalena River. Today Cesar Bonilla continues the traditional trade of his family and can be found in his workshop in Tinjaca, two hours north of the capital city of Bogota.

Bonilla's workshop displays the history of his family tradition with 30 or more sacks of tagua half-blocking a corridor. These are young nuts ranging from six to eight years of age, explains Bonilla. In an outbuilding, the remaining vegetable ivory of his predecessor is stored, spread across the floor, These nuts are 20-30 years old and a have a darkwooden appearance when the outer layers are stripped away.

Many of the finished pieces employ the natural outer coating to create a unique and natural-looking piece of work. Using a lathe, the nuts can easily be transformed into a variety of objects, such as small bowls, cups, candlesticks and perfume bottles.

They can also be hand carved to create a multitude of animals, jewelry and chess pieces. With vegetable ivory's tendency to darken with age, a chess set can be made using only the nuts' natural colors - six-to-eight-year-old ivory for the white pieces, and 20-year-old nuts for the dark pieces.

Vegetable ivory has recently seen an increase in experimentation with new techniques. Julia Patricia Bonilla, Caesar's wife and a painter, has been experimenting - along with other manufacturers - with the nuts' capabilities to absorb dyes to create rich. Deep colors. She says the effects have been extremely rewarding.

For the future, Bonilla says, "My wife and I are proud to have this art of vegetable ivory workmanship as a medium of existence." He goes on to explain that the corridor full of sacks are an investment for his young son whom they hope will carry on the family tradition.

Meanwhile, Conservation International is also looking towards the future. Since the founding of their flagship project, the Tagua Initiative®, Conservation International has established a total of seven similar developmental projects within South and Central America, believing that "Earth's natural heritage must be maintained if future generations are to thrive spiritually, culturally and economically." A

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