The “Amazon Day” will be celebrated this Tuesday (September 5). This date reinforces the importance of defining the ways for the future of the most important biome of the planet. With a territorial extension almost eight times bigger than France, the Brazilian Amazon occupies up to 60% of national territory and is home to an infinity of people, plants, and animals. More and more, this biome comes under the spotlight of global discussions, but what do the different economic sectors think about what the priorities are for the development of the region?

For the president of the Federation of Industries of the State of Pará (FIEPA), Alex Dias Carvalho, the current moment requires changing of paradigms and behavior in order to pave a path of sustainability for the region. In the industrial sector, this is reflected in the search for innovative solutions for production processes. "The Brazilian industry understands the importance of thinking about a new economy in line with the global pact for climate change, with social well-being and with the rational use of natural resources", explains Alex. According to him, the industrial sector already considers maintaining a sustainable agenda as a strategy to achieve greater market differential and more competitiveness.

In order to reach these goals, according to him, it is necessary to encourage practices of environmental, social and governance management within industries, so that they can map their risks, modernize their processes and guarantee responsible action in their territories - and FIEPA has been acting towards these goals. Carvalho also emphasizes the importance of partnerships with governments and other entities to jointly seek solutions to issues such as low investment in infrastructure projects, bureaucracy in the tax system, among others.

Amazonian youth aims to participate in the elaboration of public policies.

International eyes have turned to the Amazon region more and more, especially when the topic is the environment. Belém, the capital of Pará, will host the world's largest conference on climate change, the COP, in 2025, but the events on this international agenda have already begun. In the beginning of last August, the city hosted the "Amazon Summit", a meeting of the heads of state of the eight countries that share the biome. Likewise, in Manaus, the capital of Amazonas, an overflow of events on this subject took place, such as the "Glocal Experience Amazônia", held from the 26th to the 28th of August, which addressed the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

For non-governmental organizations that represent young Brazilians, the agenda also provides a space for their participation. The projects and sustainability director of the Amazon Youth Cooperation for Sustainable Development (Cojovem), Karla Giovanna, believes that this population group still lacks participation in policy discussions in the region, which, for her, should be one of the priorities for the future of the Amazon.

"It is children, adolescents and young people who are going to feel the impacts of climate change and the consequences of policies decided now for a longer time. Therefore, they need to be in decision-making, but there is still a lack of public policies that encourage this participation and, thus, open up opportunities for us to occupy these spaces", she emphasizes.

VISIBILITY

According to Karla, there is no consensus on what the youth of the Amazon is looking for as priorities, but one of the urgent agendas is the need to invest in projects to adapt to climate change. "The more ambitious the projects are, the better. And I think these international events that take place in the region are very important, because, despite being an extremely rich territory, it has a scenario of profound inequality in matters such as basic sanitation and per capita income. So, it is an opportunity to bring this visibility and to the beauties and sorrows of living in the Amazon", he declares. (A.M.)

“The ones who produce in the Amazon fell excluded from this discussion”.

The president of the Federation of Agriculture and Livestock of the State of Acre, Assuero Veronez, affirms that it is important that the sector is also present in the discussions about the Amazon. "Since the 'Amazon Summit', which took place recently, we feel a certain distance from the productive sectors, which have not had much time or voice. We need to be included in this discussion", he emphasizes. “The ones who produce in the Amazon are feeling, somehow, excluded from this discussion”, he states.

In last year's edition of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 27), the theme was very present. It was the first edition to feature an official food and agriculture pavilion of the United Nations (UN) at the event, where they debated the concept of regenerative agriculture, which defends the way of producing while recovering the land and the environment. The format is seen as a way to continue preserving the environment while putting food on the population's table.

"The Amazon's vocation for agriculture and livestock is undeniable. We have very suitable soils, a fantastic climate... The development of technologies for tropical agriculture is now consolidated. Therefore, producing in the tropics today is much more advantageous. We managed to do two or up to three harvests a year, while international competitors don't have that", Veronez emphasizes.
 

“FORGOTTEN”

Faced with this scenario, he believes that it was necessary to pay greater attention to producers in the Amazon, in order to reach the expected potential. "We also have many difficulties, of course, such as infrastructure that is still not adequate. In a way, the producers of the Amazon were a little on the sidelines of the development programs", he evaluates.

For him, other economic alternatives, such as the bioeconomy, are still unable to meet the region's demand for job and income generation and, therefore, the agricultural sector cannot be ignored. "In Acre, for example, we don't have a tourist or mining vocation. Our vocation is, eminently, agriculture", he reinforces. The state, which borders Peru, today has 85% of its native forest preserved and the biggest challenge is to increase agricultural production without threatening natural resources.

In addition, Veronez is concerned about the impact that international attention has on the region. "We need socioeconomic development. What I see is less and less willingness to allocate resources in this regard, and what we are seeing more and more is a so-called global governance. Everyone wants to establish models that we know are not viable in practice", he points out.
 

SUSPICION

Senator Plínio Valério (PSDB-AM), president of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), is also suspicious when talking about the international interest. "This is what is done at each COP: no one is ready to contribute; we are only given tasks and obligations. The conferences must be concerned with the people of the Amazon, the true protectors of the forest, who have no income, no incentive and they don't have public policies to live with dignity and progress", he says.

At the CPI of NGOs, Rebelo has reaffirmed the discourse that the Amazon coexists with three parallel states. According to him, the first is exercised by city halls, agencies, and government bodies, the second would be drug trafficking and organized crime, and NGOs. The senator has also criticized the Amazon Fund, so that it is updated so that resources are only allocated to public bodies, so that NGOs no longer have access. (A.M.)

KNOW MORE

Get familiar with the numbers of Legal Amazon:

Number of inhabitants: 29,5 million.

Number of states: 9 (Pará, Acre, Amazonas, Rondônia, Amapá, Mato Grosso, Roraima, Tocantins and a part of Maranhão).

Territorial extension: 5 million km².

Protected areas: 45% of the territory.

Forest coverage: 75% of the territory.

Fluvial ways: 25,000 km of navigable rivers.

GDP per capita: R$ 26,000 (in 2020).
 

SOURCES: AMAZÔNIA 2030, CONCERTAÇÃO PELA AMAZÔNIA, MAPBIOMAS and IMAZON