This blog is part of a series exploring the insights, key themes, and approaches that drive NESsT’s publication ‘Unlocking the Potential of the Global Financing Ecosystem to Invest in a Sustainable Bioeconomy in the Amazon from the Perspective of Local Communities’. Informed by Amazonian voices and conversations with the global financing community, the report identifies nine recommendations across two key areas for impact-focused public and private investors to improve the targeting, efficacy, and efficiency of their funding to the Amazon bioeconomy. Through this ten-part series, we aim to bring these opportunities into broader conversations and diverse discussion spaces, amplifying the reach of Amazonian communities and their voices, experiences, and solutions.
In June 2024, NESsT released a publication to improve the targeting, accessibility, efficacy, and efficiency of investments in the Amazon bioeconomy based on a year-long research project with enterprises led by Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs).
This blog delves into the methodology behind the study, homing in on NESsT’s firm intention to bring local voices to global discussions around Amazon bioeconomy funding; it explores how NESsT anchored the publication in authentic narratives and diverse Amazonian contexts while tailoring the message for the international financing community.
Selecting and interviewing ten NESsT Amazonia enterprises to represent Indigenous pluralities and diverse bioeconomy value chains
“Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) play a crucial role in protecting Amazonian biodiversity and promoting sustainable development through their bioeconomy enterprises. By engaging deeply with local leaders and involving various stakeholders to identify, through their voices, the challenges these enterprises face, we aim to support and inspire other impact-first investors to shape a bioeconomy that recognizes the effective solutions of local, traditional communities, including Indigenous groups, riverbank communities, and Quilombolas, conserves the biodiverse environment, and enhances local livelihoods.”
NESsT’s portfolio in the Amazon consists of 50 bioeconomy enterprises located throughout Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. These enterprises range from Indigenous-led cooperatives that support fishers along the Amazon River to early-stage tech businesses delivering and scaling climate solutions in the rainforest.
From 2022–2023, NESsT selected and visited ten enterprises from its Amazonia portfolio to develop a deeper understanding of their financing needs and the challenges they navigate in their day-to-day experiences.
The ten cases selected are representative of NESsT’s overall portfolio; all of the studied enterprises are led by IPLCs and 50% are led by women or have women on their leadership team. All produce sustainable bioeconomy products and prioritize conserving local biodiversity and improving the lives of IPLCs in the Amazon. Additionally, these enterprises have directly or indirectly received funding from Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), International Development Agencies (IDAs), and/or private sector investors.
Overview of the Ten Bioeconomy Enterprises NESsT Interviewed
Agrosolidaria Florencia Caqueta (“Agrosolidaria”)
Agrosolidaria sells agricultural and cosmetic products made from sustainably cultivated Amazonia plants. It was founded in the Colombian Amazon basin by 12 associations representing more than 250 small farming families.
Asociación Forestal Indígena de Madre de Dios (“AFIMAD”)
AFIMAD is an association formed by over 200 Amazon nut (Bertholletia excelsa) collectors. It emerged as an alternative solution to the unsustainable practice of indiscriminate tree felling, which had been a source of income for local Indigenous communities in the past.
Associação dos Produtores Rurais de Carauari (“ASPROC”)
ASPROC supports local riverine communities to produce and sell biodiverse products sourced exclusively from the rainforest, including pirarucu fish, manioc flour, natural rubber, and açaí.
Associação dos Agropecuários de Beruri (“ASSOAB”)
ASSOAB has been supporting small Amazon nut collectors in Beruri, Amazonas since 1996, generating stable income for the isolated communities while respecting their traditional livelihoods and the environment.
Associação dos Trabalhadores Agroextrativistas da Ilha das Cinzas (“ATAIC”)
ATAIC is an association dedicated to generating and expanding income opportunities for local families. The association sources Amazon oil seeds, as well as fruits from local extractivists, offering them fair prices while supporting them with production training, sustainability education, and business guidance.
Bioingredientes Amazónikos (“BioIncos”)
BioIncos sources wild fruits from Indigenous communities in the Amazon Piedmont in Colombia and transforms them into natural oils for use in the cosmetics industry.
CooperSapó
CooperSapó is a community association that aims to improve the livelihoods of local smallholder farming families, many of whom are of indigenous ancestry. CooperSapó’s main product is the guaraná seed (Paullinia cupana) a native Amazonian superfood known for its energy-boosting benefits.
Cooperativa Agropecuaria dos Produtores Rurais de Meruú (“Cooaprime”)
Cooaprime is a rural cooperative located in the northeast region of Pará state that is dedicated to supporting and expanding the income opportunities of riverine families along the Meruú-açu river. Cooaprime sources açai berries from 35 supplier families and improves the livelihoods of more than 180 families that are involved in the production, collection, and transportation of açai berries.
Cooperativa Mista dos Povos e Comunidades Tradicionais da Calha Norte (“COOPAFLORA”) COOPAFLORA was created in 2019 to represent collecting families from the various Indigenous, Quilombola, and settler territories in the Calha Norte of the Brazilian Amazon. COOPAFLORA supports 28 traditional communities from remote villages that rely primarily on the collection of forest products and family agriculture for their income and livelihood. The cooperative’s work positively impacts more than 1,200 individuals, including cooperative members and their families as well as Indigenous suppliers.
Kemito Ene
Kemito Ene is an Indigenous-led cooperative of producers of the Asháninka nationality, from the Ene River basin, dedicated to the sustainable production and marketing of certified organic and fair-trade cacao beans, cacao-derived products (such as cacao nibs, cacao paste, cacao powder, among others), chocolate, and roasted and ground coffee beans.
NESsT portfolio managers conducted in-person interviews with the leadership teams, employees, smallholder farmers and producers, suppliers, and community members of these ten bioeconomy enterprises, supporting over 40 people to bring their voices to the publication.
Agrosolidaria, Kemito Ene (© Daniel Martínez, WWF Perú); Coopaflora; AFIMAD (© Daniel Martínez, WWF Perú); BioIncos (©Manglar TV/ WWF Colombia); ASSOAB (©Bruno Kelly); CooperSapó; ASPROC; ATAIC
Incorporating real-world testimonies into NESsT’s targeted recommendations
“By observing firsthand the unique challenges and opportunities local communities face, we can make more informed investment decisions and tailor our business support services to local contexts. This valuable qualitative data provided the foundations for our targeted recommendations and strengthened our efforts to bridge knowledge and communication gaps between local bioeconomy enterprises and the investing community.”
The in-depth field visits and semi-structured interviews NESsT conducted were designed to supplement the information it collects from each enterprise during its due diligence process and throughout its time in the NESsT portfolio. NESsT tracks and measures the impact of its portfolio through its Performance Management and Measurement Tool (PMT) and ongoing business mentoring and assistance.
NESsT field visit to Cooaprime
Applying deep listening techniques, NESsT portfolio managers invited community members to respond to open-ended questions about the history of their lands, the everyday threats they face, and social and environmental dynamics including food security, gender roles, and community-based infrastructure.
Entrepreneurs were also given space to voice business challenges and bring concrete solutions drawing from their own knowledge and experience. These discussions covered sustainable production practices adopted by the enterprises and their producers, processes for obtaining organic and Fairtrade production certifications, and the accessibility and efficacy of credit and business assistance.
This holistic approach to qualitative data collection built off NESsT’s ongoing work to refine its quantitative and qualitative indicators to better reflect the realities of local communities in the Amazon as part of the Negocios Agroalimentarios Regenerativos (NAR) consortium, an initiative supported by IDRC.
[Image: Examples of key questions and themes NESsT explored with bioeconomy enterprises and community members]
The information collected was categorized and grouped into broader themes to reveal key patterns and recurring topics across diverse geographies, supply chains, and sectors within the Amazon bioeconomy.
Collaborating with the funding community to transform field insights into joint, strategic opportunities
“Forming strategic collaborations with global funding stakeholders is essential to nurture a supportive funding landscape for the Amazon region. Through these alliances, we are leveraging on-the-ground observations to give shape to opportunities that address urgent challenges and galvanize the growth of local, environmentally-conscious enterprises bringing Amazonian products to local markets and enhancing the livelihoods of IPLCs.”
In parallel, the NESsT team conducted interviews with 12 key development funding stakeholders to gain a clearer understanding of the obstacles the finance sector faces when channeling funds to the Amazon bioeconomy. Conducted in partnership with strategic advisory firm Global Counsel, these interviews underscored the importance of adopting targeted strategies to effectively and sustainably manage and promote the bioeconomy in the Amazon region.
Next, NESsT presented its consolidated and systemized learnings to a Bioeconomy Advisory Committee formed of representatives from NESsT, DFIs, IDAs, and international organizations. These meetings were designed to analyze the findings drawn from local communities and the finance sector and translate them into actionable steps for the funding community, particularly for Development Finance Institutions (DFIs).
NESsT identified nine opportunities to enhance bioeconomy funding across two main areas which address our initial research question of how to enhance the efficacy of funding to the Amazon bioeconomy: five opportunities for DFIs and IDAs to create enabling conditions to promote entrepreneurship in the Pan-Amazon region and four opportunities for DFIs and IDAs to collaborate with locally-based actors with demonstrated commitment to enterprises and community actors to improve impact outcomes.
The image below captures this comprehensive strategy: the upper section shows NESsT’s close collaboration with the financing community, while the lower section focuses on community-based research and data collection. The central arrow depicts NESsT’s long-term strategy to amplify the reach of the nine recommendations.
Image created by Cairo Bastos, Program Manager, Brazil Amazonia Initiative
Deep dive into a NESsT Case Study: ATAIC’s 14-year journey in building sustainable infrastructure on Ilha das Cinzas
Ilha das Cinzas, an island situated on the mouth of the Amazon River, in Pará, Brazil, is home to a vibrant community of riverside extractivists and fishers. Led by residents of the island, Associação dos Trabalhadores Agroextrativistas da Ilha das Cinzas (ATAIC) has worked to build sustainable value chains, strengthen local livelihoods, and improve access to basic infrastructure on the island for over 14 years.
NESsT field visit to ATAIC
Accessible only through a few river routes, Ilha das Cinzas offers limited basic living resources including drinking water, healthcare, sewage and sanitation treatments, and electricity. In the past decades, ATAIC has been dedicated to establishing sustainable local systems and strengthening traditional livelihoods.
Conversations with local families shed light on the impact of poorly developed infrastructure on food insecurity due to decreases in productive diversity in collection areas, which mean many families struggled to feed their families. Pluriactivity in the floodplains is essential for supplementing household income, ensuring food diversification, and sustaining soil fertility.
In 2020, ATAIC installed solar energy panels in the homes of 60 riverside families in the region. The solar panels capture energy to charge batteries, which in turn households can use as a power source for the television, lamps, and fans. ATAIC also trained young people and adults on how to use the panels, equipping them with the necessary skills to maintain them over time.
Local producers who sell their Amazon produce to ATAIC use the solar-powered batteries to power fruit pulpers. This allows them to offer a value-added product, as opposed to raw, unprocessed fruit, and access higher income.
“After we installed the solar panels, the community began to see other ways to earn money. Now that we have more electricity, we will be able to use fruit to make pulp and sell it,” shared an ATAIC member.
NESsT field visit to ATAIC
Another member of ATAIC commented: “[we] could leave the freezer on and use it to conserve pulp for consumption and for sale.”
Close-up analysis of our interviews with ATAIC community members shed light on the significant role bioeconomy enterprises play in driving and implementing sustainable, environmentally-appropriate infrastructure projects in the Amazon basin, particularly in remote areas. These resources such as electricity, clean water, and road infrastructure are crucial for not only improving living standards and enhancing food security, but also for boosting and diversifying local production in a sustainable way.
Based on this input, we identified a clear opportunity for DFIs and IDAs to invest in on-the-ground infrastructure initiatives. Specifically, opportunity number four outlines the ways in which investors can improve community-based, sustainable development to add value to community products, unlock new opportunities for innovation, and enhance local livelihoods.
NESsT’s next steps to continue strengthening the reach of the voices, perspectives, and solutions of IPLCs throughout the global finance ecosystem
As we move forward in our strategy to shape a bioeconomy with IPLCs at its center, NESsT’s focus is to broaden the impact of its funding recommendations to reach diverse audiences and the wider public through events, networks, and forums. Specifically, by engaging in global platforms such as COP16 Colombia together with portfolio entrepreneurs and community members, NESsT will facilitate meaningful exchanges between funders and community members.
Through targeted discussions and co-created spaces with representatives from bioeconomy enterprises and the funding sector, NESsT aims to evaluate how well its recommendations align with financing policies and evolving on-the-ground realities. Engaging community leaders in these discussions will further ensure they can contribute to and benefit from discussions around a more inclusive and sustainable funding landscape for the Amazon.
You can access NESsT’s study and in-depth recommendations below in English, Portuguese, and Spanish:
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