The Secretary General of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), Alexandra Moreira, participated, this Thursday (10), in Belém, in the opening of the international meeting “Innovation, Finance & Nature”. The event dialogues with the context of the Amazon Summit and is co-organized by the Interstate Consortium of the Legal Amazon, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Nature Finance initiative and the network A Concertation for the Amazon.
Alexandra composed the opening table and stressed the importance of the event being held the day after the Amazon Summit, where the eight countries that make up ACTO signed the Belém Declaration, which consolidates the agenda of the Amazon countries, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. “The document has 113 objectives and many deal with how we are going to implement the work from financing”, he explained.
For the ACTO Secretary General, the event is an opportunity to hear from stakeholders such as government, the private sector, banks and financial systems, on how they can help put into practice what is agreed in the Declaration. “Infrastructure, innovation and technology for sustainable development are highly expensive. There are windows to invest in research in the Amazon such as products for the pharmaceutical industry,” he said.
Also at the table were the Executive Secretary of the Legal Amazon Consortium, Marcello Brito; the director of Nature Finance and Head of Sustainability at Itaúsa, Marcelo Furtado, the vice president of the World Bank for Latin America and the Caribbean, Felipe Jaramillo and the representative of the Inter-American Development Bank in Brazil (IDB, Morgan Doyle. The Executive Director, Carlos Lazary and the Administrative Director and responsible for forestry, Carlos Salinas participated in the event.
AMAZONIAN PRODUCTS
In addition to the financial mechanisms, Alexandra addressed scientific data on a study that showed that, between 2017 and 2019, approximately US $ 298 million were moved in the world market in value of approximately 955 products, of which only 64 came from the Amazon, from the non-timber forest sector, which are from systems such as: agroforestry, fish farming and horticulture. “A more detailed analysis shows us that, in fact, they moved US$176.6 billion,” he warned.
The Secretary General of ACTO, mentioned that this market sells products such as pepper, fish, palm oil, Brazil nuts, fruits, açaí, natural honey, among others. “We, as the Amazon region, are participating in only 0.1% of this market. Those who come from the financial market should have much more information about this nature. In the same three-year period, from 2017 to 2019, the global market for voluntary carbon credits moved US$131 million. That is 10 times less than pepper and 3 times less than chestnut,” he said.
BIOECONOMY IS CENTRAL THEME
Throughout the day, the program will have panels on bioeconomy through themes such as the participation of indigenous peoples, the role of technology, banks and financial actors, as well as the necessary investment strategies. The governors of the Amazon states will close with the last panel on perspectives on the bioeconomy. Representatives of the Federal Government, State Governments, private sector, financial institutions, banking sector, philanthropic organizations, NGOs and academia participate in the event.
