This tree species has a very wide distribution, large population, is not currently experiencing any major threats and no significant future threats have been identified. This species is therefore assessed as Least Concern.

This species is widely distributed throughout northern South America east of the Andes, especially in the Amazon region, in Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Trinidad, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, and Bolivia; usually in permanently swampy areas where it forms extensive, high density stands, also in gallery forest along rivers in savannas, usually below 500 m elevation but sometimes reaching 900 m on eastern Andean slopes (Henderson et al. 1995).

There is no information on the population size or trend for this species. But the population is assumed to be large given the wide distribution.

This species is found usually in permanently swampy areas where it forms extensive, high density stands, also in gallery forest along rivers in savannas (Henderson et al. 1995).

It is one of the most extensively used palms in the Amazon region. The soft pulp of the fruits is eaten directly, dried and made into flour, or fermented; it is a nutritious and important part of the diet of many indigenous groups in the Amazon (Borgtoft Pedersen and Balslev 1990; Galeano et al. 2015). In Iquitos, Peru, the trade in fruits is important economically (Padoch, 1988). Ice cream and preserves are made from the mesocarp and sold in many parts of the city. In Brazil, oil is extracted from the fruits at a domestic level. String is obtained from the leaf fibres of young leaves and is used to make ropes, hammocks, baskets, and similar items. The spongy part of the petiole is used to make mats and can be used for paper production. (De los Heros and Bueno Zárate 1980). Inside the fallen stems, larvae of the beetle Rhynchophorus palmarum develop, and these are eaten and highly appreciated by indigenous people. Wine and starch are obtained from the sap of the stem (Borgtoft Pedersen and Balslev, 1990). These authors gave many other minor uses and considered that this species was promising for extractivism and agroforestry (Henderson et al. 1995).