“Amazon 4.0” Project: Defining a Third Way for the Amazon
Ismael Nobre and Carlos Nobre
What is the real advantage of Brazil in relation to the other nations of the world? We have everything to become a true environmental powerhouse and to become world leaders in the circular economy. When the criterion is biodiversity, we are number 1 on the planet, followed by Colombia and Indonesia. Will we know how to take advantage of this immeasurable wealth as an asset of economic, technological, and social development?
The way to reach this noble goal is to dive headfirst into the infinite possibilities of bioeconomics, combining the knowledge of our biodiversity with the possibilities of Industry 4.0. Bet and invest in a model that always puts us ahead of the competition. Resuming, broadening, and deepening our commitment to the conservation of the planet, meeting the goals the country assumed in the Paris Agreement (2015), making us an example for a global society that is increasingly aware and concerned about the environmental crisis and its climate dimension.
We are certainly not content to be just an agro-mineral power, the eternal supplier of commodities to industrialized and post-industrialized nations. How long will we be a big country with a few pockets of wealth that sells low-value-added products with high-environmental impact and buys high-valued manufactured and technological products, following the same logic that has characterized our history since the days of colonization?
The Amazon, of course, is at the heart of our challenges as a sovereign, free, and independent nation. Recovering and strengthening Brazil’s image as an efficient and intelligent manager of the Amazon will surely benefit our economy as a whole. However, the biggest beneficiaries of a new development paradigm, the preserved and productive standing-forest economy, will be the Amazon states and their inhabitants.
The Amazon 4.0 project, which we detail in this article, unites idealism and realism in a powerful and innovative concept by opting for sustainable economic and social development, firmly grounded in respect for biodiversity and local traditions and lifestyles, while taking advantage of Industry 4.0’s potential.
The Relevant Question
Is it possible to reconcile the economic development of the Amazon and the conservation of the rainforest? Over the past two or three decades, the national debate has split between two opposing views, with insufficient attempts to reconcile them. On the one hand, the way of completely isolating large tracts of jungle for conservation purposes (hereinafter referred to as “first way”). On the other hand, the defense of a “supposedly sustainable” development model that would include agriculture/livestock and mining (hereinafter referred to as “second way”).
Reality is showing that none of these ways, or even the hypothesis of convergence between them, is yielding satisfactory results for the obvious reasons that the constant expansion of the frontier for commodity production and exploration, especially beef and mining on an industrial scale, drives deforestation. Another problem is the plan to build an infrastructure for energy production in the Amazon region (hydroelectric).
The decline in Amazon deforestation from 2005 to 2014 (about 80% decline) — although in recent years, and especially in the period from 2018–2019, alarming levels of forest destruction have been observed — seems to have opened a window of opportunity to think of a new sustainable development paradigm; the Amazon’s Third Way.
The forests of the Amazon region are the result of millions of years of evolution during which nature has developed a wide variety of biological assets (food, unique molecules, life genes, metabolic pathways, etc.) in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, a process that has resulted in huge biodiversity and extraordinary richness of natural products. These biological assets and biomimetics (relating to functions and processes present in nature) are increasingly being valued by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (or Industry 4.0) for the elaboration of pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food products, or even in the search for new products, materials, energy solutions, and mobility with significant profit potential.
However, so far all this latent wealth is far from being properly harnessed and channeled back into the region, both to conserve this unique biome and to improve the living conditions of the indigenous, caboclos, riverine, former unassisted settlers and even for cities rooted in the Amazon.
In our view, the Third Amazon Way represents an emerging opportunity to develop a “green economy” that harnesses the value of a “permanent productive forest” to establish a new model of socially inclusive economic development with the help of new or evolving physical, digital, and biological technologies.
Yes, it is possible to create the conditions for the flourishing of a vibrant and inclusive bioeconomy that respects the forest and its rivers, fauna, flora, and traditional Amazon peoples. However, the challenges are plentiful, among them the fact that the Amazon is still largely disconnected from the most advanced technological innovation and bioeconomic centers on the planet.
What lessons can we learn from the first and second ways?
A model accessible to the full range of the forest’s own wealth as the basis of a strong, locally-based economy without deforesting, polluting, and compromising biodiversity? To arrive at this model, let’s start by taking a look at the first and second ways and what lessons we can draw from these two tried and tested ways to a greater or lesser extent.
The first way corresponded to the Brazilian government’s delimitation of vast protected areas such as indigenous lands and conservation units (national parks and forests), as a way of ensuring that a significant and sufficiently large area of the Amazon biome was perpetually preserved, especially in the last decades of the 20th century. Currently, just less than 50% of the forest is under this condition. However, although protected by law, even these protected areas are not immune to forest loss. Satellite data shows evidence that fires are increasing in reserves near already deforested areas, especially after years of severe drought. For example, after the historic drought of 2010, nearly 30% of the Xingu Indigenous Reserve was affected by anthropogenic forest fires.
In short, climatic extremes and proximity to a process of intensive agricultural occupation pose a concrete threat to protected areas. There are other factors, such as the invasion of illegal logging, gold mining, and land grabbing, which means that this “passive” protection does not guarantee the conservation of the rain forest, rivers, flora, fauna, or of the traditional cultures that live within.
The second way proposes a regional development model that enables activities such as grain production in a monocultural system and extensive livestock raising in areas already partly deforested between the Cerrado and the beginning of the Amazon, as well as controlled mining or even logging. With plenty of available land, excellent sun and water conditions, high-level research, and an increasingly vibrant farming sector, Brazil has surpassed other countries in food production and has become a global leader in this area. Nonetheless, how long will agribusiness continue to make increasing gains, no doubt necessary for the country’s economy, without expanding its borders into the heart of the jungle, putting the future of the Amazon at grave risk?
Looking at the net profitability figures of the economic activities in the Amazon region, we have, e.g., livestock that generates 30 to 100 USD per hectare per year of net income with an average productivity of about one head of cattle per hectare. Soy has an annual profitability of 100 to 200 USD per hectare per year and an average yield in the Amazon of 2.9 tons per hectare per year. Logging has an income of 100 to 400 USD per hectare for a period of 25 to 30 years, with 80% of logging being illegal and the potential for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) being 2,500 to 5,000 USD per hectare from a single period, with the still low average CO2 price of 2.5 USD per ton.
Combining the economic output of wood, meat, and soybeans by area, we have an average yield of 125 USD per hectare per year, which is quite low (compared to productivity in other regions of Brazil and the world). Therefore, reinforcing the conservation model proposed in the first way and, at the same time, increasing the efficiency of commodity production (the second way) through “integrated crop-livestock-forest systems”, the so-called “sustainable intensification”, is a possibility to be explored, but does not guarantee the sustainable development of the Amazon in the medium- and long-term.
Third Way: A Deep-Rooted Bioeconomy in the Amazon
So, what’s to be done? The climate crisis and the global threat to biodiversity require innovative solutions such as the concept of a Third Amazon Way, which proposes a new sustainable development paradigm for the region. A model that uses all of the knowledge provided by science, technology, and innovation and strategic planning for a flourishing bioeconomy based on the idea of a “standing forest with flowing rivers, valuing biodiversity and the sustainable work of local communities.”
This innovative economy must have deep roots in the Amazon and not see the region as merely a place for extraction/production of primary inputs to be harnessed by bioindustries from faraway places. It should also generate local and diversified bioindustries, value-added products across all links in the value chain, jobs, and social inclusion.
Listed below are some examples of products based on high-added-value Amazon biological assets (potential or current). There are fragrances for perfumes like rosewood oil, priced at 200 USD per liter, used as a component of classic perfumes like Chanel №5. Brazil nut oil, used in cosmetics and sold at 30 USD per liter, when sold in capsules as a dietary supplement, is worth 150 USD per liter.
The ucuhuba tree, which was mainly used to make broomsticks, gained new value after research found that butter made from the seed of this plant, has enormous potential in the cosmetics industry. Today, the annual income generated by a standing ucuhuba tree is three times higher than that generated by cutting the same tree, which reinforces the argument of the viability of using biodiversity intelligently and sustainably.
However, the most persuasive case of success among agroforestry products is acai (açaí), which can be managed on both small and large scales. Until 1995, it was consumed mostly in the Northern region, but in the last 20 years has conquered the rest of Brazil and global markets. Present in almost all municipalities in the region, the net income from acai production ranges from 200 USD per hectare per year in unmanaged systems and to up to 1,500 USD per hectare per year in managed agroforestry systems (figures for the state of Pará).
Acai pulp production already exceeds 250,000 tons per year, benefits more than 300,000 producers and adds at least 1 billion USD to the Amazon economy each year. The United States, Europe, and Japan, among others, are major consumers. Research from the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) showed that from the anthocyanin pigment in acai, it is possible to produce evidence of tooth plaque, giving it the potential to bring substantial oral health benefits at a low cost.
Camu-Camu has 1,888 mg/100 g of vitamin C, while oranges contain only 53 mg/100 g and tangerines only 112 mg/100 g. Moriche palm fruit has twice as much vitamin A as carrots.
Amazon plants contain biochemical secrets such as new molecules, enzymes, antibiotics, and natural fungicides that can be synthesized in a lab and result in high-value products. Leafcutter ants use some leaves as a blanket for fungal cultivation and deliberately avoid other leaves rich in natural fungicides. A study of the species of plants leafcutter ants avoid can help identify new, very efficient natural fungicides. Also, the study of the genome of the species can facilitate this process.
Additionally, there are still molecules used in the bioenergy industry such as the Beta glycosidase amazonica enzyme, recently discovered in an Amazon lake, which when used in the manufacturing of sugarcane ethanol, results in a productivity increase of up to 50%.
In the Brazilian flora as a whole, more than 240 plant species are used as a base for cosmetic and pharmaceutical products and 36 of them as a base for herbal medicines, but the potential is infinitely greater. In the Amazonian flora, there are more than 450 species already known and traditionally used, but how many of them can turn into economic assets as valuable and profitable as acai or cupuacu (cupuaçu) chocolate? Also, how many new products can emerge from research conducted on hundreds of new species discovered each year in the region?
Lastly, biomimetic knowledge originates from biodiversity, in which structures and processes of nature are studied and translated into concepts, principles, and processes to generate new technological solutions. Whatever the biological or biomimetic input used, it is possible to develop locally-based value chains by aggregating the latest technology of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The fact is that the Amazon has endless opportunities to find biodiverse features to meet the most diverse human needs in the 21st century. It is up to us Brazilians to lead the research to appropriate all of this knowledge.
Industry 4.0 and How it Can Add Value to the Forest
To operationalize the innovative transformations proposed by the Third Amazonian Way emerges the “Amazon 4.0” concept, which aims to add to the economic potential of the assets of the Amazon socio-biodiversity, the new technologies, and possibilities that emerge from the Fourth Industrial Revolution, or Industry 4.0.
Industry 4.0 is characterized by cyber-physical systems, the internet of things, communication networks, artificial intelligence, and the convergence of computational, digital, and material-biological technologies. Our proposal foresees the use of these new technologies to help transform natural resources into higher value-added products, ensuring that they are produced and consumed sustainably, reach the most developed markets, and benefit from this access. Just as importantly, this whole process is strongly linked to local communities, which should be their leading players and beneficiaries.
Among settlement projects, towns, cities, villages, indigenous peoples, and settlements, there are 4,438 Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics-defined (IBGE) communities scattered throughout the Legal Amazon. Despite its extension, the Amazon is dotted with communities where people live who can and should participate in this new “forest-biodiversity economy.” However, there are many difficulties in implementing projects that add value to forest products, be they mineral, agricultural, or extractive. Factors such as isolation, lack of infrastructure, logistical difficulties, complex processing, production volume, quality assurance, access to equipment and training, access to markets and experience in closing really advantageous deals are some of the real challenges that make economic development of the Amazon difficult.
How is this series of challenges addressed with the help of new technologies? There are many possibilities. One example is the Opportunity robot, sent to Mars, where, remotely controlled, it takes photos, does experiments, generates energy, and exchanges data with its terrestrial base. Despite the essential differences in terrain and climate, much of what has been learned from these unmanned and remotely operated space vehicles can be applied to the Amazon.
In terms of logistics, the distances that have to be traveled by river are enormous and, for a product originating from a distant river community to reach an airport in the region, it takes days of travel. Drones, however, are in the final stages of testing for a variety of applications, including product distribution and delivery, and will be found everywhere in the coming years. Why not use drones to transport products on closed jungle flights safely, quickly, and economically?
Primary commodities that result from mining or extensive planting of soybeans (e.g.) weigh thousands of tons and have no other transportation alternative other than railways, waterways, or highways. Unlike these, other forest products may have their weight and volume greatly diminished if properly processed, while added value increases. Thus, facilitating air transport by unmanned vehicles to a port or airport and from there to the world.
The vast Amazonian distances also pose a challenge to product perishability. There are fruits with great nutritional potential that do not last long after being harvested. Although lyophilization (freeze-drying) techniques can be used, generating high-value material for the manufacture of ice cream, yogurt, etc. Examples are cupuacu, acai, and camu-camu powder, which retain almost all of the nutritional qualities of the original food.
The use of solar energy in Amazon communities, where the rate of solar radiation is much higher than in European countries already investing heavily in this technology, is totally feasible, at reasonable costs, and without any damage to the forest, its rivers, or inhabitants.
In Industry 4.0, everything is connected: machines, people, business. Connecting the entire Amazon is undoubtedly a huge challenge, but there is already a Brazilian geostationary telecommunications satellite coming into operation precisely for providing broadband in any region of the Brazilian Amazon. The federal government plans to install fiber optics along major Amazon rivers via underwater cables. Not to mention even more disruptive solutions, such as mega-entrepreneur Elon Musk’s idea of orbiting a constellation of satellites around the Earth to create a kind of global Wi-Fi.
Another issue is training the inhabitants of distant communities to properly use the equipment needed to add value to their products. In addition to distance learning courses, there are virtual or augmented reality training techniques that allow virtual interaction with machines of varying degrees of complexity and accuracy, as if they were physically within reach.
So how is technical assistance provided for state of the art equipment located in the jungle? Industry 4.0 equipment has sensors making it possible to monitor and reprogram them and make revisions and repairs, all remotely. You can also assess the need for replacement parts even before a failure and ship the part to the location of the machine weeks or months in advance.
To generate sustainable new business opportunities, access to skilled markets and a more comprehensive consumer universe is essential. Digital platforms have revolutionized the way you consume, from product research and selection to payment, delivery, etc. We can use these tools to spread Amazon product to every corner of the world.
Sustainable businesses of the present and the future require scalability, and in innovation ecosystems, many startups use technology to enable businesses that once seemed unsustainable. For example, small producers can virtually unite in cooperatives and associations to join forces and break the cycle of isolation.
Local producer communities can also add value with new technology, creating bridges between producers and consumers located in different parts of the planet through virtual or augmented reality. With a 360 degree real-time camera, you can record and track people working from thousands of miles away and interact with them.
What Can be Done Now: Amazon Creative Labs (Laboratórios Criativos da Amazônia)
Previously, we defined concepts, fundamentals, and challenges. However, there is an urgent need to put the Amazon’s great potential to generate a powerful new bioeconomy from the development of local capacities into practice. To this end, we created a concept of Laboratórios Criativos da Amazônia, designed to build capacity for inclusive, socio-economic transformation based on the economical use of biodiversity.
Mounted in tents or on floating platforms, these field laboratories could conduct research and propose solutions through the interactive fusion of traditional, scientific, and technological knowledge. Local community members and students would be enabled to work in partnership with teachers, researchers, startup entrepreneurs, and small business and sustainable business development and support specialists, such as SEBRAE, and professional training organizations such as SENAI. This diverse group of people brought together in an enabling, creative, and prototype-like environment will drive the emergence of a bioindustry that takes full advantage of Amazon biodiversity potential.
An example of what these labs could achieve was designed in a case study of the potential that fruits like cocoa and cupuacu, both in the same family, have for the production of chocolate and cupulate (chocolate made from cupuacu) of high quality and nutritional value. The study details the full verticalization of this value chain and includes aspects such as intelligent machines, automated equipment, energy and communication infrastructure in the forest, innovative transportation, etc.
We have also developed a laboratory to explore all of the possibilities of Brazil nuts, which can produce high value-added oil, flour, milk, paste, and other ready-to-eat products, while in its raw state it is sold for about 2 BRL/kg, a meager value.
In the Creative Genomics Laboratory (Laboratório Criativo de Genômica), the community will be able to perform the genomic sequencing of species known to them for many years, but not yet scientifically studied further. To ensure intellectual property rights, portable sequencing and registration systems in blockchain systems will be available.
The Seven Foundations of the Amazon 4.0 Concept
Seven fundamentals summarize the Amazon 4.0 concept:
1.Accumulated Knowledge Represented by Amazon Biodiversity. Nature has intrinsic knowledge as a result of the evolutionary process, which generates constant competition for space and food. For a species to excel, it had to “invent” a better solution for a given existential challenge and/or context than the competition. The consequence is the continual evolution and refinement of features that we can today understand as “nature’s own technologies.”
2.Ability to Understand Intrinsic Knowledge of the Forest. Prior to the invention of microscopes, humanity was unaware of microorganisms, their actions, and complex interactions. Today, with extremely accurate digital microscopes coupled with other Fourth Industrial Revolution technology, we have exponentially increased our ability to read, understand, and predict a huge range of natural processes, so we can greatly expand our knowledge of the forest and its possibilities.
3.Application of This Accumulated Knowledge to Improve Human Life. Answers to humanity’s most diverse needs may arise from the in-depth study of natural processes, flora, and fauna in the medical and food fields, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and in the research of innovative materials. Industry 4.0 makes it possible to create and test new products with more dynamism, agility, and effectiveness. One example is 3D printers, which make it easy to create prototypes of new products at a low cost.
4.Production of Goods and Services From Biodiversity. The essence of what we propose for the Amazon is using abundant inputs in extractive and agroforestry systems and turning them into something of value through the transformation bioindustry. With the resources and technological facilities available today, this is entirely possible.
5.Building a Local and Global Bioeconomy. The challenge is for products made from forest resources to be valued and consumed around the world and at the same time firmly rooted in local traditions, life, and economy.
6.Equitable Distribution of Socioeconomic Benefits. Everyone gains by offering products resulting from sustainable forest exploration. In addition to the legal framework and current institutional rights registration mechanisms, there is innovative digital technology that can significantly increase the reach and impact of this equitable benefit sharing, creating more jobs and an inclusive and socially-just economy.
7.Intrinsic Valorization of the Amazon Biome. The most effective form of forest conservation in the medium- and long-term is for national and international societies to engage in their defense, maintenance, and sustainable exploitation.
Ismael Nobre is a biologist with a degree from the Universidade Federal de São Carlos (Brazil). He specializes in Protected Areas and Wilderness Management, holds a PhD in Human Dimensions of Natural Resources from Colorado State University (USA) and a post-doctorate in Population and Environment Studies from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Brazil). He is currently a senior member of the scientific team of the Terceira Via Amazônica (Amazon Third Way) initiative and co-collaborator for the development of the Amazon 4.0 Project, aimed at the verticalization of local production chains with advanced-technology employment.
Carlos A. Nobre is a climatologist with a degree in Electronic Engineering from the Aeronautical Technology Institute (ITA, Brazil, 1974) and earned a doctorate in Meteorology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, 1983). He developed his scientific career of over 40 years as a researcher at the National Institutes of Amazon Research (INPA) and Space Research (INPE). He implemented and directed the Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies (CPTEC-INPE, Brazil) and is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, the World Academy of Sciences, and a foreign member of the US National Academy of Sciences. He was a co-author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climage Change Fourth Assessment Report (IPCC AR4), which was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, and he was part of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s Scientific Panel on Global Sustainability. He is currently a senior researcher at the Instituto de Estudos Avançados da USP (Brazil’s Institute of Advanced Studies USP) and president of the Brazilian Panel on Climate Change.
This article was written to and published by the magazine Futuribles em Português nº 2, September 2019.
Portuguese to English translation by Melissa Harkin & Todd Harkin (Harkin Translations).
