Paths for the development of a new forest economy were the focus at the 2nd Festival of Impact Investments and Sustainable Business in the Amazon
There are many Amazons, with several paths for the region's development. This does not mean that traditional communities and articulations that pass through the private sector should not be present in all of them. If innovation and technology also emerge hand in hand along the way, achieving objectives aimed at environmental preservation will be closer.
Within this context, modern strategic visions, such as those that were highlighted in the sessions of the 2nd FIINSA, the Festival of Impact Investments and Sustainable Business in the Amazon, held at the end of November, are essential. “We have a big dream for the Amazon, and this only happens when we come together with diverse people and local actors take the lead in facing the region's challenges. The Amazon is the biggest opportunity for Brazil to create a sustainable business model, and this is only possible through social inclusion and economic development. There is no green agenda without improving people's quality of life”, said Guilherme Leal, co-founder and co-president of the board of Natura & Co, during the opening of the Festival held in Manaus.
Real examples, such as the one also described during the event by Juma Xipaia, chief of the Kaarimã village and social entrepreneur, fit like a well-fitting glove. The Amazon resident cited the case of the communities in Terra do Meio, which actively participate from beginning to end in the entrepreneurial process. “We own our own business. It is not enough to involve, it is necessary to have direct participation of traditional communities. We are not objects of research and commercialization, we have full capacity to understand and undertake”, highlighted Juma during the panel “Vision of the future for the Amazon and Brazil”. In 2020, she created the Juma Institute, which seeks to protect the forest, cultural heritage, intellectual property and territories of indigenous peoples and traditional communities in the Brazilian Amazon. “We have the Amazon alive because there are different people who live in it and defend it with their own lives. This is the future we dream of, an Amazon alive with its cultures and knowledge”, states the leader.
For this to be achieved, in addition to the increasingly active participation of the various traditional communities, of the various Amazons, the participation of the private sector must occur, as highlighted by Karina Simão, consultant responsible for the Amazon Agenda at CEBDS (Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development). “One of the main focuses of the event was the debate on how it is necessary to customize when it comes to the Amazon biome, including everything from financing mechanisms for projects, adapting companies’ scope of action to truly value socio-biodiversity, among other requirements”, he states. the socio-environmental specialist.
In this sense, CEBDS presented at the event the “Study of Good Business Practices in the Amazon”, promheard in partnership with Idesam (Amazon Development Institute). The work was shown in the panel “Performance of large companies and ESG agendas/Private social investment in the Amazon”, which included the participation of Natura highlighting two initiatives in the biome.
The study points out paths and opportunities for greater engagement in sustainable practices in the region. The document presents initiatives that faced the typical challenges of the Amazon – which needed to reinvent themselves, adapt and which, therefore, are scalable and can be applied in different operating contexts. These are businesses such as restoration of degraded areas, professional training, development of startups, sustainable and higher productivity agriculture, bioeconomy, artificial intelligence in preventing deforestation and extractivism.
Several representatives from the business sector, from startups to large groups, such as Michelin, were present at the conversation sessions trying to adjust the paths that will be followed by those who intend to develop the forest with quality of life. “We are in a region of superlatives, in one of the greatest heritage sites of humanity, but unfortunately it does not generate dividends for those who live here”, commented panelist Denis Minev, CEO of Bemol, one of the region's businesspeople who most embrace the cause of Amazon sustainable development. “This is due to the low level of development of our 'brains'. It was not invested here [in the Amazon]. No one develops without productivity, and this productivity comes from entrepreneurship. It's inspiring that so many entrepreneurs are here. My dream for the Amazon is that this future, which we all know is possible, does not have to wait until 2100 to happen”, added Minev.
Due to the pandemic, there was an interruption in the Festival, which tends to be periodic. The first version of FIINSA had been held in 2018. The event brought together more than 250 people. R$ 1.1 million was invested in four impact businesses during the investment round. The main objective of the Festival is to provide different spaces for connection and collaboration through technical sessions and parallel activities programmed by the Festival organization. “What sets FIINSA apart is really showing, in addition to promoting high-level panels in the heart of the Amazon, what is actually happening and what are the ways to build this new [sustainability] economy”, analyzes Juliana Teles, co-founder of Impact Hub Manaus – institution organizing the event alongside Idesam and the project accelerator Amaz.
