Name: COP30 host city tries to stoke economy while preserving the Amazon
Uploaded: 2025-11-22T03:16:51.572Z
Duration: 1 min 56 s
Description: On the banks of the Guama River where the city of Belem presses up against the vast green Amazon, Brazil is pioneering an economic model designed to help locals profit from a healthy rainforest.

On the banks of the Guama River where the city of Belem presses up against the vast green Amazon, Brazil is pioneering an economic model designed to help locals profit from a healthy rainforest.

Belém

In Belem, Brazil, local entrepreneurs are developing new products using resources from the Amazon rainforest as part of a state-backed research and development initiative. The government of Pará recently opened a $56 million bioeconomy and innovation park to support sustainable businesses and reduce reliance on deforestation for cattle and mining.

The initiative builds on a long-standing tradition of rainforest product markets in the region, such as the Verro Peso market, and highlights the economic importance of products like açaí berries. The program is part of Brazil's broader effort to demonstrate that economic growth and rainforest conservation can go hand in hand.

COP30 host city tries to stoke economy while preserving the Amazon

Inside this Belem warehouse, Brazilian entrepreneurs are experimenting with forest commodities to come up with new foods, scents and other products. It's part of a new research and development program from the state government of Pará. The goal is to help locals profit from their own backyard, the Amazon rainforest. Instead of clear-cutting trees for cattle and mines, Pará's government opened the $56 million bioeconomy and innovation park in October, a new facility where vendors' ideas come to life. Chef Leonardo Souza says he gets goosebumps talking about how the new park has helped him scale up production of his artisanal salt, flavored with Amazonian herbs, from 60 jars per day to about 1,000. The idea of a robust bioeconomy is building on an already solid base in Pará state. Beyond the river from the park is Belem's open-air Verro Peso market, where vendors have been selling rainforest products since 1901. During the day, you can find Bete Chiricinha, a fifth-generation herb seller who sources plants from river communities and uses indigenous knowledge to make tinctures. BETE CHIRICINHA, Herbalist Each of these herbs has a meaning. Each one is used to treat a specific problem. The Amazon is also very important to us here. Every night, riverboats unload bushels of açaí for shipment across Brazil and abroad. Açaí is the country's most ubiquitous Amazon product. The popularity of the antioxidant-rich berry has driven market growth projections from over $1 billion in 2024 to over $3 billion by 2032, according to Brazil's government. Pará's new program is a small part of Brazil's plan to show the world it can find a way to protect the Amazon rainforest and ensure jobs and money for its residents.

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