International Pernambuco Conservation Initiative (IPCI)
The International Pernambuco Conservation Initiative USA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the conservation and sustainable use of Caesalpinia echinata, Brazil's national tree, commonly known as pau brasil or pernambuco.
Pernambuco has been used in the making of bows for over 250 years, enhancing the performance of stringed music for generations. The wood's native habitat in Brazil's Atlantic Rainforest has been reduced to fragments of its original extent. Today, pernambuco is increasingly rare and endangered in many areas of its native habitat.
IPCI is working to ensure the future of stringed instrument music by increasing scientific knowledge of pernambuco and restoring the species as a fundamental part of the Brazilian landscape. We support research, replanting programs, educational outreach and other conservation measures.
Our Mission
IPCI USA's mission is to promote the science-based conservation, replanting and sustainable use of pernambuco, which is so precious in nature and to stringed-instrument music, so that it will flourish for many generations to come.
Who We Are
Our membership is diverse: musicians, music lovers, teachers, stringed-instrument makers and conservationists have joined our ranks. Roughly one-third are bow makers, artisans who are carrying out a craft passed on from master to apprentice for centuries. Working with hand tools such as tiny planes, knives and chisels, they make the bows used by professional players of stringed musical instruments worldwide. more
Our Pledge: A Moratorium On Purchasing
IPCI and its members pledge to a self-imposed moratorium on any new wood purchases until inventories of pernambuco forests have been completed and conservation plans that will enable the sustainable use of pernambuco by future generations have been implemented.
IPCI-USA
P.O. Box 230372
Astor Station
Boston, MA 02123
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