In the Amazon, where the forest extends for millions of hectares, the money that moves the sustainable world is still far away. As billionaire figures in Green credit They accumulate in statistics, riverside, extractivists and small farmers follow the sidelines, trying to access resources that could transform their lives.
and moves billionaire figures.
According to an unprecedented study of ABDE (Brazilian Development Association), prepared in partnership with UNDE (United Nations Program for Development), Verde Verde Volume It grew almost 50% in three years, reaching R $ 603 billion em 2023.
The study shows that, between 2020 and 2023, the SNF (National Development System) – a network of 35 institutions that includes public banks, regional, development agencies and credit unions – disbursed about R $ 2 trillion In sectors such as infrastructure, innovation, agriculture and services.
The news is that there is an alignment of these operations with the SDGs (Sustainable Development Objectives), and it.
“Brazil has a number of investments and mechanisms under development and implementation to increase this direction of resources to the SDGs. The idea is to expand the impact and reach as many sectors as possible, by directing, for example, to an agricultural or industrial activity,” says Cristiano Prado, leader of UNDE’s inclusive socioeconomic development unit in Brazil.
For him, the numbers indicate that the country can become an international reference.
“This is a trend we see in the world: there is a search for norms and forms of financing, and in Brazil we have advanced with the construction of funds focused on preservation, reforestation, revitalization of degraded areas, support for bioeconomics and decarbonization of the productive sectors,” he said.
In the Legal Amazon, most are concentrated in large areas such as infrastructure and technological innovation, while only 13% are intended for sociobioeconomics – a segment that brings together riverside, extractivists and small producers.
For ABDE, this data is emblematic. “When we look at bioeconomics, we realize three dimensions: agro, linked to commodities, forest, related to planting native species; and sociobioeconomics, which values the ways of life of the forest. It is precisely in this last segment that less resources come, and where traditional peoples and small producers are,” explains André Godoy, the entity’s executive director.
For him, sustainable financing needs to be understood as a policy of inclusion and understanding local dynamics is critical.
“Credit needs to be thought of as productive inclusion. It is not just a financial resource, it is transformation of life in communities,” he says.
Credit that arrives at the end
Despite the low participation, there are concrete examples of positive impact. In Rondônia, the Benedict family cultivates robust coffee for three generations.
The business started small, with crops maintained by traditional practices and manual harvest, but only gained a scale after Ronaldo da Silva Bento was able R$ 100 mil next to the Bank of the Amazon through Pronaf (National Program for the Strengthening of Family Farming).
“We bought the machinery and we started our industry, which today works on the property. And there are all machines here, it’s not just the industry, there is more things also within the property,” says the producer.
The appeal funded essential equipment such as dryers and torsal, which turned the family routine.
Coffee is no longer sold only in fresh grains and arrived toasted and packed directly to the consumer. The change has expanded the profit margin and allowed the family to win awards, play space at fairs, supermarkets and even negotiations for export.
Ronaldo summarizes in numbers what this meant: family production jumped from few bags sold at local fairs to hundreds of kilos of roasted coffee per month, in a billing of R $ 600 thousand per year. Today, the property receives visitors and has a coffee shop.
For the future, Ronaldo wants to hire more people and increase coffee production.
Bottlenecks persist
Despite the advances and stories such as Café Don Bento, the reality of most Amazonian communities is still marked by barriers to access credit.
According to the researchers, existing financial mechanisms do not reach the tip because they bump into demands incompatible with local reality.
“Communities cannot meet the demands that banks ask for. Bureaucratic and land barriers are still huge. It is necessary to simplify and create mechanisms adjusted to the Amazonian reality,” says Georgia Jordão, coordinator of knowledge of the initiative a concertation by the Amazon.
She recalls that, in many cases, extractive producers live in areas without land regularization, which prevents them from offering formal guarantees.
“We are talking about families who have been preserving the forest for generations, but that are left out precisely because they do not have a signed role recognizing the possession of the land,” he said.
Débora Marsulo of Frankfurt School stresses that the issue is not the absence of credit, but the lack of connection between the offer and who demands.
“The problem is not the absence of lines, but the lack of bridges. No title of land or formal documentation, the communities are excluded. That’s why we need intermediate structures, which approach technicians and producers and ensure that money reaches the tip,” he said.
It defends the creation of local financial hubs, capable of integrating banks, credit agents and community associations.
“It is not enough to announce large volumes of resources in Brasilia. You need to have teams acting directly in the territories, knowing the productive chains and helping to structure the projects,” he explains.
For Deborah, initiatives that combine credit with training and technical assistance are those that bring faster and lasting results.
“It is not enough to release resources. It is necessary to follow, support the management of acai, cocoa, chestnut. This is the way to turn credit into sustainable development.”
Georgia points out that credit needs to be inclusive and today who protects the forest is precisely those who can only access resources.
“This logic needs to be reversed. Financial institutions still work with an urban and formalized view. But the Amazon has another dynamic: small scale production, seasonality and strong community presence,” said Georgia.
