Suellen Nunes*
Guaranteeing the right to land and promoting land-use planning are fundamental steps for the Amazon to advance towards a sustainable economy. This was the main message of the panel “Land regularization and green economies: opportunities for conservation and development”, promoted by IPAM (Amazon Environmental Research Institute) on Wednesday (17), during Amazon Climate Week, in Belém (PA).
The debate brought together representatives from the public authorities and the third sector: Bruno Kono, president of Iterpa (Pará Land Institute), Iara Menezes, director of bioeconomy at Semas (Pará’s Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainability), and Patrícia Daros, from the Vale Fund’s Territories Program. The moderator was Raquel Poça, a researcher in Public Policies and Territorial Development at IPAM.
“Without land regularization, you can’t access practically anything: neither rural credit, nor financing for sustainable production or conservation policies. Regularization is not the end, it’s the beginning. It’s the basis on which all territorial development is structured,” said Bruno Kono.
Right to land and bioeconomy go hand in hand
The lack of land titling is one of the main obstacles to the advancement of public policies aimed at the bioeconomy, family production and sustainable development. According to data presented during the panel, around 30% of Pará’s territory has not yet been regularized, a reality that hinders the implementation of nature-based solutions and the attraction of private investment to sustainable production chains.
For Iara Menezes, the integration between land regularization, ecological-economic zoning and the bioeconomy needs to be strengthened from a territorial perspective. “To talk about the green economy without talking about land regularization is to ignore the root of the problem. We need to guarantee that producers remain on the land, with technical assistance, access to the market and new production models,” he said.
In this context, Pará’s Ecological-Economic Zoning (ZEE) has been a strategic tool for guiding public policies and defining priority areas for investment. “We’re in a time of transition, and the ZEE is being improved to talk directly to the bioeconomy and the traceability of chains,” said Iara.
Historicchallenge
Patrícia Daros, from the Vale Fund, stressed that a collective effort is needed to overcome the structural barriers to land regularization. She pointed out that the lack of title directly impacts the productive organization of territories and maintains historical inequalities.
“The biggest challenge in the Amazon today is to transform land insecurity into development opportunities for local populations. This cannot be done in isolation. It requires coordination between governments, civil society, the productive sector and communities. The standing forest only makes sense if people are also standing,” he said.
She also highlighted the importance of technical and legal support for traditional peoples and communities, settlers and small producers. “When we talk about land regularization, we’re not just talking about documents. We’re talking about dignity, belonging and social justice,” she concluded.
Paths to the future
The panel ended by reinforcing the idea that the transition to green and sustainable economies in the Amazon necessarily involves land governance. Through regularization, it is possible to promote the traceability of production chains, implement more effective environmental policies, encourage access to green credits and strengthen the community-based bioeconomy.
“IPAM believes that development in the Amazon needs to be territorialized, respecting local ways of life and ensuring that land use is legal, fair and sustainable,” said Raquel Poça at the end of the meeting.
The activity was part of the Amazon Climate Week program, an initiative that brings together civil society organizations, public authorities, the productive sector and traditional communities in debates on the challenges and solutions for tackling climate change in the region.
This activity is a Self-Governing Event of the 1st Amazon Climate Week and is part of the event’s official program. Find out more at: semanadoclimaamazonia.com.br
IPAM communications analyst*
