Deforestation of the Amazon region is resulting in the loss of biodiversity, the release of greenhouse gases and a reduction in the size of areas where traditional population groups live. Brazil has therefore set itself ambitious targets for the reduction of deforestation. The promotion of sustainable production systems is a key element of the strategy to protect Brazil’s tropical rainforests. Production systems based on products of a traditional gathering economy (products of socio-biodiversity) and of sustainable farming can make an important contribution to reducing the dynamics of deforestation by offering small-scale farmers and traditional population groups an economically viable alternative with successful marketing of their products. At present, however, products of socio-biodiversity and of sustainable farming produced by cooperatives and smallholder farmers’ associations in the Amazon region have limited market access.
The objective of the project is to expand market access for these products.
The demand-driven expansion of market access for these products will lead to greater use being made of the potential for sustainable management of the region’s natural resources and harnessing of their value.
The project operates with a multi-level approach, supporting the adjustment of national policies at the federal level, capacity development at the level of four states in the Amazon (Acre, Amazonas, Amapá and Pará), as well as concrete action at the local level in two priority areas.
The project comprises three fields of activity:
1) Improving marketing promotion policies at federal level and in conjunction with the sub-national levels;
2) Capacity development and knowledge management with the focus on the system of rural extension services; and
3) Marketing of products of socio-biodiversity and of sustainable farming from the Amazon region with the focus on sustainable consumption.
Companies that express demand for socio-biodiversity products with high standards of quality constitute a promising incentive for scaling up the prioritised value chains. The intention is that considerable quantities of private funds should be leveraged for this through cooperation and the enlisting of impact investors, investment funds that operate within the framework of ethical investments and aim to achieve social and environmental results as well as profit.