This project page was written in collaboration with Roberto Espinoza

Multilateral development banks and Amazonian countries are now investing in what they call bioeconomy. In the case of Peru, this concept is being materialized in the PE-L1258 Program to Promote Sustainable Financing in the Amazon region, financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and implemented by the Peruvian Development Bank, COFIDE, and Ministry of Environment, MINAM. The project is a $22 million loan program that was approved in 2022 and will be implemented through 2026. It includes $3 million in technical assistance (business advice, monitoring, and dissemination) and a $2 million investment grant from the French Lab for Natural Capital and the IDB. Its ostensible objective is to contribute to the economic growth of the Peruvian Amazon, supporting the sustainable use of natural capital by increasing biobusiness investments in the region. 

This project is concerning because, as it’s designed, it prioritizes a bioeconomy led by private businesses without considering the interests and needs of Indigenous Peoples in the Peruvian Amazon. BIC has already raised concerns in a previous analysis on how to promote a bioeconomy based on indigenous life plans that protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples.