The bioeconomy, considered one of the strands for sustainable development in the Amazon, and which prioritizes low-carbon production, can generate additional industrial revenues of US$ 284 billion per year by 2050. The estimates of the Brazilian Association of Bioinnovation (ABBI) take into account a series of joint actions in which agribusiness and the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and genetics sectors take a leading role.

"If we can zero out illegal deforestation, we can reverse the Economy of the Amazon in less than ten years. It is possible to value the bioeconomy quickly," says climate scientist Carlos Nobre, a researcher at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of São Paulo (USP), citing a potential generation of US$50 billion in the region in a decade.

The projections behind the figures reflect ongoing experiences, proving that the value of agroforestry systems is higher than that of replacing forests with pastures. Activities developed by cooperatives, such as c.A.M.T.A, in Tomé-Açu, Pará, producing more than a hundred products, obtain profitability of about US$ 1,000 per hectare per year. The return with cattle raising in the region is around US$ 100.00 per hectare per year.

The data, cited by Nobre, one of the leading scholars of the Amazon Rainforest, give a clue to the potential of investments in bioeconomics. According to the researcher, two decades ago, the açaí industry generated US$ 50 million in sales per year. Today, it has reached US$ 1.2 billion in the Amazon and US$ 15 billion in the world.

"When you develop products from the new economy, there is an international market for them," says Nobre, who runs the Amazon Third Way Initiative/Amazon Project 4.0, which has among its goals the creation of a technology institute in the region, along the lines of the American Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with investments of US$ 1 billion aimed at training thousands of students in bioeconomics.

But to carry out such projects, it will be necessary to reduce the risks of private investments, which will, in his view, require a fundamental action: the rigorous fight against crime in the region, reflected, above all, in deforestation and mining. "International investors still do not take seriously the policies adopted to contain illegality in the Amazon. Fighting crime is a challenge for all of us," Nobre said.

The scientist participated in a debate alongside the governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho (MDB-PA), on bioeconomics during the Ambition Forum 2030, held by the UN Global Compact in Brazil. The event marked, in early March, a year of the launch of its strategy around the 2030 Agenda, set of goals and actions to address climate change. Pará, one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the country due to deforestation and changes in land use, wants to leave this sad position in the past and adopt a new economic model, low carbon.

The goal is to achieve carbon neutral status in 15 years and, to do so, the government has developed a State Bioeconomy Plan. Pará, by the way, has a good chance to become the home of COP30 in 2025, a decision that will be known in May, according to Barbalho, whose team distributed chocolates to the audience, including cupuaçu, recently awarded in London for its quality and flavor.

"This demonstrates that it is possible to build a sustainable economy in the Amazon. We need to invest in science, technology and innovation, we need to know what we have and from there unfold with private initiative all the opportunities that this can generate", says the governor. One of the initiatives in this direction is the project to launch a biopark, designed to be a reference of knowledge.

A recent study coordinated by TNC, Natura and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) estimated revenue for The Region of Pará at US$30 billion by 2040. The expected export potential of 43 forest-compatible products reaches US$ 120 billion.

Another relevant statistic concerns the increase in income in the region from the productive activities developed by cooperatives. A study by Professor Francisco Costa shows that part of the population that changed livestock for the production of açaí and agroforestry products jumped from the so-called class E to class C, according to ibge classification. "This, even though the majority of primary products are not yet industrialized. The few cooperatives in the Amazon have managed to improve the lives of the population," says Nobre. Brazil holds between 10% and 15% of the world's biodiversity, which, in addition to the traditional knowledge of the Amazon, opens doors to the development of the bioeconomy in the region.

Source: Um só Planeta