BALTIMORE—On Palm Sunday, Lutherans can wave palms and deliver hope for the hands that harvested them with Eco-Palms!
Lutheran World Relief has partnered with the University of Minnesota Center for Integrated Natural Resources & Agricultural Management to gather and sell palms from Mexico and Guatemala in a socially and environmentally just way. The farmers who harvest, sort and package Eco-Palms are paid fairly for their work and use harvesting methods that protect the environment – and their future livelihoods – so they can escape the cycle of poverty.
How are Eco-Palms different?
- The palms are gathered and sold in a socially and environmentally just way.
- Harvesters are paid a fair price per palm based on quality — 5-6 times the normal payment per frond — so they take fewer palms out of the forest, which protects important nature reserves.
- Community members sort, package and sell the palms themselves — not via middlemen — so more of the money paid for the palms stays with the people who worked the hardest to provide them.
- Because there is a steady market for the palms, locals are motivated to protect the forests (their source of income), ensuring harvests well into the future.
Visit lwr.org/eco-palms for more information or to order them.
