Helder Barbalho presents Bioamazon Valley in a TEDx Amazon lecture
The strategy of the Government of Pará aims to transform the biodiversity of the forest into an incentive for innovation, sustainable development, and wealth generation
The governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho, presented the Bioamazon Valley on Saturday (8), in Belém, during the fourth edition of TEDx Amazon, at the TED Countdown House, an event aimed at seeking solutions for the climate crisis. The Bioamazon Valley is a government strategy to transform the biodiversity of the forest into a vector of innovation, sustainable development, and wealth generation, reinforcing the state's leadership in the global climate agenda and preparation for COP30.
In his lecture, Helder Barbalho emphasized that the Amazon should be understood as the foundation of the next great economic transformation in the world, anchored in biotechnology and bioeconomy. “We strongly believe that the next great generation, the next great revolution, will not come from a chip. The next great revolution will come from a leaf. It will certainly come from the root of a tree, from the molecules that are in the depths of the extraordinary wealth of our forest,” he stated.
The governor explained that the Bioamazon Valley was conceived to articulate, from Pará, three major forces that currently lead the global economy: artificial intelligence, clean energy, and biotechnology. “We want to combine these three forces in a single environment. It is here, in Pará, in this state, that has the capacity to connect artificial intelligence with our bioeconomy, with biotechnology, and with clean energy,” he emphasized.
He emphasized that Pará arrives at the status of host of COP30 (the global conference on climate change) with unique credentials, combining environmental assets, biodiversity, and structuring public policies. He recalled that the state maintains 74% of its territory with native forest and houses one of the largest biodiversity banks on the planet, where “a species is discovered every two days.” “In this Pará, today, we already concentrate 78% of the bioeconomy of the Legal Amazon. The major movements of transformation in bioeconomy are concentrated here,” he highlighted.
"It is ready" - While presenting the Bioamazon Valley, the governor of Pará assured that the project is already a reality, supported by scientific and technological infrastructure, and by a set of climate and bioeconomy policies implemented since 2019. “This moment is already a reality. It is ready. It is the result of planning, of extraordinary investment, that allows us to reach COP30 to present to the planet the connection of the scientific infrastructure we have, among many connectivities, the Amazon Science and Technology Park, the Amazon Museum, the Sociobio House. This is already a gift, it is already a reality,” he stated.
Helder Barbalho recalled that the State of Pará implemented the State Policy on Climate Change and launched, in 2022, the Amazon Bioeconomy Plan (PlanBio), in addition to policies for the restoration of the biome. “Bioeconomy, today, is a reality in our state from a public investment of around 900 million reais of state public resources, to turn a dream, a strategy, into reality, to get us here,” he emphasized.
In the lecture, the governor also mentioned Amazonian startups that are already projecting bioeconomy to the world, such as Azurill, Manioca, Amazon Manar, and Labtex, and advocated that the moment is to expand this agenda on another scale, accompanying the world's entry into the era of biotechnology. “We believe that what biotechnology will represent in 2030 was what the digital revolution provided in the past. Studies show the global potential of bioeconomy, which by 2030 will mobilize 3.8 trillion dollars,” he highlighted.
Innovation - For Helder Barbalho, the Amazon should be recognized as a center of innovation and climate solution for the planet. “The Amazon is the largest living bank of innovation on the planet. Who opens its doors? The Amazon opens its doors to support humanity and point out solutions for the climate, for people, for life,” he stated. He further reinforced that Pará is “positioned for the planet,” and cannot miss the historic opportunity to lead this process: “The next revolution is not about to arrive. The next revolution has already arrived. And it is here in the Amazon,” the governor emphasized.
In closing his participation at TEDx Amazon, the governor made a direct invitation to the international community to join the project. “Taking advantage of this moment of being the host of the largest climate change event on the planet to make an invitation: to join us. To come connect with us ideas, transformations, that can be with us to build a new tomorrow,” said Helder Barbalho.
And he added: “And this new tomorrow is the Bioamazon Valley, which Pará presents to the planet as a reality of sustainable solution to preserve the forest, generating wealth, with which we can protect indigenous peoples, quilombolas, riverside dwellers, rural producers, city dwellers, Brazilians and Amazonians who want to be a solution for humanity, for the climate, for the environment. Join us and come build the Bioamazon Valley of Pará.”
