By Lucas Guaraldo*
During the panel “Bioeconomies of the Amazon: scaling a just and sustainable transition”, held on Wednesday (16), during the Amazon Climate Week, in Belém (PA), Rafaela Reis, researcher and coordinator of Public Policy projects at IPAM (Amazon Environmental Research Institute), emphasized the importance of cooperation and dialogue for the consolidation of the bioeconomy in the region.
“We don’t work alone. Our base is science, but it’s in the exchange with small producers, with technical assistance and fundraising that we manage to reach people, who are, and always should be, the center of any project and public policy in the bioeconomy,” she pointed out.
She also emphasized that the capacity for dialogue between decision-makers, communities and researchers will be fundamental to establishing the agenda as relevant on the different fronts of tackling the climate crisis.
“The bioeconomy cannot be treated as an isolated agenda, but as something that cuts across all the issues that will be discussed at COP30. We have to think about the climate together with the bioeconomy and understand how they are connected, because it can be a solution and an alternative to the climate crisis. This round of cooperation and dialog represents that: the ability to dialog and find new solutions,” he added.
According to a project being developed by IPAM researchers, the Amazon bioeconomy has been gaining momentum with solutions based on local experiences, its own growth models and autonomous promotion. The study has already identified more than 11,000 active enterprises in the Legal Amazon, spread across all the states in the region.
Camille Bemerguy, Deputy Secretary of Bioeconomy for the State of Pará, also stressed the importance of multiple perspectives on the issue, pointing to this path as the only one capable of generating robust public policies.
“We can’t do anything on our own. Any management is only effective, especially when it comes to public policies, if it is based on evidence and presence in the territories. It’s not just about being in the Amazon, it’s about being in contact with these territories. We need these partners, we need to know these places. There is no public policy, no credit line, without this exchange of experiences,” he said.
Opening up trails for credit
The difficulties of accessing credit were also discussed at the event, which sought to point out ways of building a more robust and inclusive financing system. The creation of effective credit lines for family farming in the Amazon, according to Ana Cláudia Melo, Banco do Brasil’s Sociobioeconomics manager, requires both technical knowledge and active listening to communities.
“It’s like putting together a portrait. We need to listen to the stories to understand the scenario and create solutions that make sense. We have to work with traditional communities, eliminating financing bottlenecks, but also unlocking the notions we have within the financial market on the subject. It’s about connecting people and knowledge, respecting those who actually keep our forest alive and standing,” he said.
Concerns were also raised about the fragility of Brazilian environmental legislation, especially in the face of setbacks in licensing and land regularization. Paulo Reis, director of Assobio, an institution that represents more than 70 bioeconomy enterprises, drew attention to the vulnerability of the sector in the face of environmental devastation and the lack of legal certainty.
“The Amazon bioeconomy is a physical, tangible economy. It needs the standing forest to extract its inputs, rivers to transport goods and infrastructure to transport its production. For this to happen, it is essential that Brazil has a solid environmental licensing system that protects the forest and those who live in it. It is also essential that the private sector guarantees investment and incentives for these practices,” he said.
IPAM journalist, lucas.itaborahy@ipam.org.br*