The Brazilian government on Wednesday (Apr. 1) presented a new strategy to make biodiversity one of the country’s main economic assets for development by 2035. The National Bioeconomy Development Plan (PNDBio) is expected to encompass everyone from extractive workers to industry.

Among the goals are expanding payments for environmental services, incorporating new herbal medicines into Brazil’s national public health care network – the SUS – and granting new conservation units to promote ecotourism.

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The plan is organized into three pillars – socio-bioeconomics and environmental assets, competitive bioindustrialization, and sustainable biomass production.

Carina Pimenta, national secretary for the bioeconomy at the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, notes that this is a national development strategy that views environmental assets not only from the perspective of conservation, but also in terms of how to utilize them within economic activities, “generating a new cycle of prosperity.”

According to Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Marina Silva, the bioeconomy envisioned for Brazil is for everyone.

“There is a place for extractive industries, for cosmetics manufacturers, and for pharmaceutical companies. This is bioeconomy for a new cycle of prosperity,” she added.

Environmental services

The first pillar outlines the development of a community-based socio-bioeconomic business ecosystem. Among the initiatives are support for 6 thousand enterprises, a 20 percent increase in contracts under the financing line of the national program for strengthening family farming aimed at low-income producers, and a doubling of the gross annual output derived from socio-biodiversity.

Also planned is the promotion of environmental and socio-cultural services provided by traditional peoples and communities through payments to 300 thousand beneficiaries. Also proposed is a 50-percent increase by 2035 in the number of organizations eligible to receive benefits from the sharing of genetic resources. Genetic heritage is the set of data contained in plants, animals, and microorganisms used in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and other industries. Current legislation already stipulates that traditional communities, such as indigenous peoples, receive a share of these profits. The goal is to expand this distribution.

The initiative aims to restore 2.3 million hectares of native vegetation integrated into bioeconomy chains, in addition to consolidating 30 restoration territories across the country. The efforts also include granting 60 conservation units to promote ecotourism and expanding forest management areas to 5.28 million hectares.

Industry

Under bioindustrialization, the plan aims to focus on health and wellness through the sustainable use of genetic resources. It aims to incorporate new herbal medicines into the SUS and expand the share of such medicines in Brazil’s pharmaceutical industry revenue by five percent.

Circular economy

The national plan also highlights, in its third pillar, the use of biomass derived from agricultural and forestry products in the national industry. Biomass is any organic material of plant or animal origin that can be used as an energy source. It also includes the development of the renewable biochemical industry, such as the production of biofuels, like ethanol.

“Innovative, competitive, export-oriented, and green – that’s what makes for a sustainable industry,” said Geraldo Alckmin, vice-president and minister of development, industry, trade, and services.

PNDBio is the result of two years of work involving 16 ministries, nonprofits, academia, and the private sector.

After undergoing public consultation with over 900 contributions, the public policy was finalized and approved on March 5, 2026, defining 185 strategic actions.

Brazil’s Environment and Climate Change Minister Marina Silva stepped down from her post Wednesday (Apr. 1). This was her third term in the position, all appointed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Like other ministers, she is leaving office to run in the upcoming October elections.

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The minister took stock of her 39-month tenure, from January 1, 2023, to April 1, 2026. In her speech, she addressed Brazil’s return to leadership on the global environmental agenda, presented data on the reduction of deforestation in threatened biomes, and discussed the ministry’s institutional recovery.

“When we arrived, in January 2023, we found an organization that needed to be rebuilt in terms of its political, ethical, technical, administrative, and operational capacity. Since then, we have revitalized Brazil’s environmental governance by adding more than 1,557 staff members to the ministry’s system,” she declared.

During this period, she said, the ministry’s annual budget more than doubled – growing by 120 percent, from BRL 865 million in 2022 to BRL 1.9 billion in 2025. “Institutional reconstruction means people, budget, governance, and execution capacity,” she added.

The budget increase and the recovery of the ministry and its affiliated agencies have yielded results, she argued.

“In 2025, compared to 2022, deforestation fell by 50 percent in the Amazon and 32.3 percent in the cerrado, preventing the emission of 733.9 million tons of CO₂ equivalent. In the most recent cycle of alerts, from August 2025 to February 2026, there was a further reduction of 33 percent in the Amazon and seven percent in the cerrado.”

“If we continue at this pace, even during such a challenging period, we stand to achieve the lowest rate on record,” she said.

With expanded teams and increased financial resources, greater action was taken in the most threatened areas. From 2022 to 2025, Brazil had 3.4 million hectares undergoing native vegetation restoration. The minister also reported that, in the same comparison, the area covered by illegal mining in the Amazon was reduced by 50 percent.

In addition to providing an accountability report and presenting results, the address marked the handover of the ministry’s helm to João Paulo Ribeiro Capobianco, the ministry’s current executive secretary. The appointment, Minister Marina Silva said, will ensure “the continuity of the policies adopted by President Lula’s administration in recent years.”

She said she views “political action as a service” and stated that she is “neither optimistic nor pessimistic,” but “persistent.”

In her view, “there is no civilization if denialism prevails. If it prevails, perhaps there won’t even be a planet.”