Daimler-Benz News from March 13, 1995

Impressive Confirmation
of the POEMA Project

Technical and social components
exceed all expectations

Report presented by Matthias Kleinert, Senior Director of Public Relations and Economic Policy, at the final presentation of the "POEMA" project on March 13, 1995 at the Daimler-Benz Research Center in Ulm

Ladies and gentlemen!

Three years ago the University at Belém, UNICEF, and Daimler-Benz set up the project "Poverty and Environment in the Amazon" - the Portuguese acronym is POEMA - which has also become known as the "Pará Project." Belém is situated in the northeast of Brazil, in the Amazon delta, and is the capital of the state of Pará. At the time, many environmentalists regarded our involvement with skepticism. Yet our progress reports and workshops have since made it clear that this project was - and still is - a real matter of concern for us, the Daimler-Benz Group. And I am certain that renewable raw materials will receive particular attention at the Global Climate Conference, not least thanks to our research work, for they are CO2-neutral and produce no more carbon dioxide during combustion than they absorbed during their growth as plants.

At that time - in the run-up to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro - the significance of the Brazilian rain forest for the global climate was clear to many circles in Germany. What was also apparent was that the people living there have to clear the rain forest to survive. The land is then cultivated - yielding poor results - for several years, until the soil is exhausted and a new area of jungle must be cleared. Alternatively, the trees are processed in the saw mill and exported as tropical wood.

The first time we concerned ourselves with the problems of the rain forest, its preservation and the barely imaginable conditions in which the people there have to live, one of the most important questions we asked ourselves was how the overexploitation might be prevented and the people helped. The POEMA project offered a credible answer to our questions - up to now the only convincing answer for us. In short: the rain forest can only be saved if it provides the people living there with a basis for existence without being destroyed in the process. That way they will preserve the forest instead of decimating it. That is the central approach of the project.

The University at Belém had developed an intelligent agricultural concept: to replace the monoculture of, say, a coconut plantation with a forest-like combination of different crops. Together with the University, Daimler-Benz undertook to investigate plants for their applicability in industrial production. This involved studying how such raw materials - at the time, our main thoughts concerned plant fibers and dyes - could be prevented from rotting in the hot, humid climate of the Amazon using the means at hand, and how far the people there might become involved in the finishing of these materials using locally available techniques.

POEMA has far exceeded the original expectations

Ladies and gentlemen, today, I can proudly announce to you that the project has been successful beyond measure, having far exceeded not only our expectations, but also those of the people in the Amazon delta.

On the one hand, we have demonstrated that renewable raw materials from the Amazon delta have industrial applications. The initial trials have already borne fruit in the form of products which Mercedes-Benz do Brasil is using in the series production of busses and trucks. And it is clear to us that such renewable raw materials have a big future in a group like ours.

At the same time, Daimler-Benz has become Germany's, if not in Europe's leading company in the area of renewable raw materials. Of course, we are using this knowledge to speed up the implementation of these concepts, but other companies can profit from them too, should they wish to cooperate with us. And I would like to invite you, on behalf of Mr. Pollmann, to do just that.

Our involvement has already found its emulators, by the way. More and more companies have, following our reports from Belém, discovered renewable raw materials as an industrial material and are either working with us or alongside us in developing these potentially powerful resources for industrial use. For, besides all their other good qualities, renewable raw materials have the major advantage, even with the most uneconomical form of recycling, namely combustion, of releasing only as much carbon dioxide into the air as they absorbed previously as growing plants.

The social effects of POEMA

For me the social aspects of POEMA far outweigh the technical results. It is already clear that the new type of soil management will double or even treble the return from the same area of land. That is why many people are now able to make a living there, something which was inconceivable until now. Let us not forget either the many people who are employed in "harvesting" the raw materials and earning money that way.

The processing of the fibers also provides people with work. We have developed simple machines for this purpose. The machines cost little and can be serviced and repaired by the people themselves. Further jobs have arisen in the area of transport, since the material needs to be brought from the jungle to Mercedes-Benz do Brasil, where we guarantee the products will be received.

Despite the tremendous distances, the use of natural materials in place of their synthetic competitors pays for itself. This has always been our objective, right from the start. We weren't interested in celebrating a "charitable event" happening down in the rain forest. In all likelihood, such an event would have only fallen victim to the next economy drive.

All these positive aspects were recognized very quickly by the people on and around the Island of Marajó in the Amazon delta. POEMA began in 1992 with four communities. Today there are 37 participating communities. This shows unequivocally that the idea behind POEMA is correct, and it's spreading. The people recognize the chance they have to improve their circumstances and they are making use of it.

I would like to mention in passing that we have also improved the local "quality of life" by means of simply constructed water-disinfection systems. The Amazon water is undrinkable due to the germs and bacteria. Here in Germany, where even the lawn sprinkler spouts drinking water, it is hard to imagine what it means to the people there to have germ-free water to drink.

Ladies and gentlemen, three years ago, through our involvement with Belém, we started a development, the consequences of which still cannot be assessed properly today. Nevertheless, we are now taking stock, as the agreed-upon project length of three years is almost over. It will not surprise you if I tell you today that we intend to pursue our commitment in the future.

Mr. Pollmann will now inform you about today's workshop: "The industrial use of renewable raw materials as an opportunity for agriculture and the environment." He will explain to you where we at Daimler-Benz consider the various possible uses to lie and where we are, in fact, already using natural materials.

Without wishing to denigrate the successes and projects you will presently be hearing about, let me conclude by saying simply this: for me the nicest thing about POEMA is that Daimler-Benz, together with both the University at Belém and UNICEF, has been able to perform an existential service for the people in this region.

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