The study “New Amazon Economy”, published by WRI Brazil in 2023, estimates the creation of 600,000 to 800,000 jobs by 2050 and an increase of 38.6 billion reais in the region’s gross domestic product if public policies and investments in the bioeconomy are agreed.
Since June 2024, through a federal decree, Brazil has had a “National Bioeconomy Strategy”, which provides for the creation of a National Bioeconomy Development Plan (PNDBio) as an instrument for amplifying the strategy in the country.
Based on the experience of the Bioeconomy Plan of the State of Pará, in force for about three years and pioneer in this type of governmental experience in the country, the national strategy presents some development initiatives.
Prospera Sociobio
During COP 30, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA) launched two actions targeting the bioeconomy.
One of them, Prospera Sociobio, proposes, among other things, an investment of 120 million reais to start six development centers called “Sociobioeconomy in the Amazon”, the result of a partnership with the German government.
The first notice provides for the selection of regional organizations with experience in strengthening the sustainable business ecosystem, with an initial investment of BRL 70 million, or BRL 11.5 million for each core, which may involve civil society organizations, socio-bioeconomy enterprises, research, education and extension institutes, science, technology and innovation institutes, technical assistance and rural extension entities, financial institutions and others.
The challenge of the bioeconomy
Also at COP 30, the MMA launched the Bioeconomy Challenge, a global platform that will operate until 2028 with the aim of transforming the 10 high-level principles of the bioeconomy into concrete actions.
Involving governments, businesses, academia, civil society and experts from more than 20 countries, the Bioeconomy Challenge proposes to define concrete objectives for the bioeconomy, seek financing and markets and consolidate the socio-bioeconomy as a development strategy, directly involving people and communities.
The initiative will include four specialized working groups: measurements and indicators, with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); financing mechanisms, with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); market and trade development, with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); and socio-bioeconomic and community benefits, with the World Resources Institute.
A pioneer in Brazil, Pará has already reached a large scale with the bioeconomy. According to data from the Secretariat of Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development, 2,300 companies have benefited from the National Bioeconomy Plan, launched in 2022, generating 9 billion reais in 13 production chains.
This amount currently represents 3.8% of the state’s GDP and affects more than 400,000 families in Pará.
Last October, within the framework of the State Plan measures, the Amazon Bioeconomy and Innovation Park was created in Belém, integrating research and development at the industrial level with traditional knowledge, with the aim of transforming Amazonian biodiversity into sustainable businesses.
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