Study points the way to developing the Amazon bioeconomy

Experimentalist governance, which learns from practice itself, and valuing local communities and traditional knowledge are the strengths of the project, which reconciles environmental conservation with job creation and income generation.

By José Tadeu Arantes  |  Agência FAPESP – COP30 – the 30th edition of the Conference of the Parties, an annual meeting organized by the United Nations (UN) to define and implement global actions to tackle the climate crisis – is being eagerly awaited. Scheduled for November 2025, it will take place in Belém, the capital of the state of Pará, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. It is this highly symbolic component that explains the special interest in the event. Many positive initiatives are already underway, and building an agenda for the implementation of the bioeconomy is part of the process.

A recent study examined the governance of public policy on the bioeconomy in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, analyzing its structure and implementation arrangements. The goal was to understand how a public policy in this area relates to local efforts and to identify ways to improve its effectiveness. The study was carried out by Vanessa Cuzziol Pinsky, researcher in the Bioeconomy Project at the School of Economics, Business Administration, Accounting and Actuarial Science of the University of São Paulo (FEA-USP), under the supervision of Jacques Marcovitch, professor emeritus at USP, and with the participation of researcher Adalberto Luis Val, currently based at the National Institute for Amazonian Research (Inpa). The results were published in the Revista de Administração Contemporânea.

“The main objective of the research was to understand if and how the governance system of public policies on the bioeconomy in the state of Amazonas is integrated with effective implementation efforts. Our model was experimentalist governance for the formulation and implementation of public policies, a successful approach in the European Union to deal with the complexity and diversity of its member states by coordinating policies without imposing rigid rules in areas such as climate change, financial regulation and social rights,” says Pinsky.

The researcher explains that the concept of “experimentalist governance” translates the idea of a more flexible process, involving public and private actors at different levels, through a continuous learning approach based on practice, adaptation and decentralized participation. “The intention is to create a dynamic that facilitates the formulation of rules and the definition of implementation arrangements capable of ensuring that national policies are translated into concrete practices and results at sub-national and local levels, benefiting socio-economic development with environmental conservation in the territories,” she says.

In such a system, the lessons learned throughout the process can be used to improve the design of rules and targets, taking into account the challenges, successful experiences and mistakes to be avoided. This requires a participatory, multi-level governance structure, as well as coordination with existing sector-based policies to take into account the often divergent economic interests of the different actors. In addition, a system of peer review of results and impacts must be established to support the revision of plans and targets. “It’s essential that all of this leads to the formulation of a State agenda, and not a government agenda, because many excellent initiatives end up being abandoned every time one set of leaders is replaced by another,” Professor Marcovitch emphasizes.

Among the study’s recommendations are the creation of a system of metrics and targets with outcome and impact indicators, the definition of sustainable financing mechanisms, and the institutionalization of the bioeconomy as a long-term cross-cutting policy. These measures should ensure the sustainability of the initiatives and attract investment to the region. “The bioeconomy presents itself as a viable alternative for combining socio-economic development and environmental conservation in the Amazon, but its success depends on an effective, participatory governance system that is resistant to political changes,” argues Marcovitch.

Pinsky says that the concept of “productive knowledge networks” rather than “productive chains” guided the research. This concept was proposed by the Executive Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation of the State of Amazonas (SEDECTI). The productive knowledge networks consider that the sustainable use of natural resources, harvesting and cultivation by family farmers and traditional peoples are the structuring pillars of the productive chains in the territories. This model prioritizes the conservation or regeneration of ecosystems in harmony with the way of life of local communities, traditional knowledge and small-scale family production practices, often organized in associations and cooperatives.

“The valuation of traditional knowledge, the effective involvement and protagonism of indigenous peoples and local communities are indispensable for the promotion of bioeconomic policies. Improving the quality and adding value to the products of socio-biodiversity, taking into account the sustainable use of the forest, the generation of employment and income and the well-being of communities, are structural bases for the formulation of regional development policies in the Amazon,” says the researcher.

The study groups its contributions to improving the public policy governance system in the bioeconomy into five pillars: developing an inclusive bioeconomy that takes into account diversity and local challenges in setting strategy; experimentalist governance, with a flexible and efficient system based on targets and metrics and peer review of results; institutionalizing the bioeconomy as a State policy rather than a government policy; innovation and a fivefold helix model involving government, society, industry, academia and the environment; bottom-up and top-down strategies in policy-making, reducing bureaucracy, encouraging innovation through experimentation and identifying solid foundations for rule development.

“The bioeconomy is a promising socio-economic approach that combines environmental protection with the creation of jobs and income, thereby reducing poverty and inequality. The articulation of a national policy, with coordination at the state level and implementation at the local level, is strategic to promoting the development of a circular, regenerative, low-carbon and inclusive bioeconomy that focuses on human well-being and the conservation of ecosystems,” concludes Marcovitch.

The research was financially supported by FAPESP through the project “Productive chains based on biodiversity to generate employment and income in the states of Amazonas and São Paulo”, coordinated by Professor Marcovitch.  

The article “Experimentalist governance in bioeconomy: Insights from the Brazilian Amazon” can be accessed at: www.scielo.br/j/rac/a/83ybm5nF3RjYnmFL36sGbbR/?lang=en.