Rooted in Tradition

The Amazon—past, present and future

The Amazon Rainforest spreads across nine countries in South America, covering nearly 40% of the continent. It represents a third of the world’s tropical rainforest and holds 10% of the world’s biodiversity. It also stores more than 120 billion tons of carbon in its plants and soil—the equivalent of 15-20 years of global carbon emissions.

But the Amazon is not just untouched wilderness. The region is home to 30 million people, including over 2 million Indigenous peoples. And for these Indigenous communities, the forest has long been the source of their livelihoods. Plants like açaí, cocoa and other fruits and nuts are both traditional foods and, increasingly, the source of products they sell.

These plants are native to the forest, providing food and shelter to wildlife, and often their nuts and fruits can be harvested using traditional processes aligned with natural growth cycles, making their products more sustainable. But they are also more than just a food or product—for many communities they are part of their cultural and spiritual heritage.

“Each plant has its own spirit, and the canangucha’s is a potent and ancient one,” says Irma García, an elder in El Quince Reservation in the Solano municipality in the Upper Caquetá region of Colombia.

“Our current economic models are major drivers of the loss of carbon storage, of deforestation, loss of biodiversity, infringement on human rights, as well as the extraction of value away from local producers and local communities,” says Lisa Ferguson, director of regenerative economies for TNC. “And we are seeing the effects—in a warmer planet, and in places we knew as children being gone, or changed.”

The socio-bioeconomy: supporting communities and nature

The question is, can traditional livelihoods offer a viable economic model that supports communities’ financial needs and protects nature?

An emerging body of research and community examples from across the region both say the answer is yes. TNC refers to this concept as the socio-bioeconomy—an integrated approach to economic development that values the diversity and well-being of people and nature.

A recent study by TNC and partners in the Amazonian Pará state of Brazil shows how this model can provide better community, ecological and financial benefits. Pará contains 20% of the Amazon rainforest—but it also accounts for 40% of the deforestation across all of Brazil, largely driven by poorly managed cattle ranching.

Previous economic data found that cattle ranching in Pará generates R$4.25 billion every year—more than twice the R$1.9 billion that Indigenous and local communities created through forest products like açaí and cocoa, according to Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) data, in 2019.

However, the IBGE data only looked at the value of the initial production—they didn’t account for the value generated by local processing industries or product sales both within and outside of Pará. Taking these elements into consideration, TNC proposed a new methodology to capture the full value generated by the forest products within the state of Pará, estimating an annual contribution of R$4.24 billion—almost as much as cattle ranching.

And given the growing global demand for products like açaí and cocoa, non-timber forest products could soon be more valuable than ranching, especially when we add the ecosystem services provided by the forest, such as carbon storage.

In Ecuador, the Kichwa people of Rukullakta have been developing an aquaculture program raising native fish as an alternative to tilapia, which is commonly farmed but is invasive to the region and can threaten freshwater habitats when they escape. The community is also planting wayusa, a native plant typically brewed to make tea that is high in caffeine and antioxidants.

The community is also experimenting with service industries like community eco-tourism to create a greater variety of business opportunities for young people, says Samuel Chihuango, the kuraka, or leader of the Kichwa. “We’re seeking alternatives, because our youth is migrating away from the territory."

Building a sustainable and equitable socio-bioeconomy

The challenge now is ensuring that the many socio-bioeconomy initiatives across the Amazon can grow with the scale required to meet the needs of Indigenous and traditional communities—and at the speed required to meet the urgency of the climate crisis.

TNC is working not only to support initiatives on the ground, but also to strengthen key public policies—such as the National Policy for Environmental and Territorial Management of Indigenous Lands (PNGATI), Brazil’s main Indigenous policy aimed at ensuring well-being and territorial protection. TNC’s collaboration with the COIAB Network (Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon) has accelerated this work across the Amazon, creating the conditions that have allowed organizations such as UASEI to form and flourish.

“For the socio-bioeconomy to have maximum impact will require more investment. I often say science is doing its part, [and] society is doing its part. Those who have to do their part are governments and companies,” says Marina Silva, Brazil’s Minister for the Environment and Climate Change.

That issue will likely be front and center at this year’s UN climate conference (COP30), held in Belém, Brazil—a city known as “the Gateway to the Amazon.”  While policymakers are increasingly aware of the importance of Indigenous communities for protecting nature and fighting climate change, “we are not always matching that with actual investment in these people,” says Leticia Cobello, TNC’s program lead for the Amazon Collective Territories in Brazil.

“The socio-bioeconomy is a potential solution,” Cobello adds, “but only if we have support for governance and land rights so communities can stay on their lands and thrive."

That public support will be crucial. But the most important thing is still leadership and examples coming from within the Indigenous communities themselves.