Ambipar · COP30 · 2026
Protocolo Amazônia 2040
Expanding the conversation on the future of the Amazon bioeconomy.
96
forces of change
3
speculative futures
The case on video
#01
The challenge
The bioeconomy is one of the most strategic issues for the future of the Amazon, yet much of the debate remains focused on present-day urgencies. This project set out to broaden that conversation, bringing in global references and provoking new ways of imagining the future of the forest and the economies that may emerge from it.
#02
From the world to the Amazon
The project began with a broad futures-scanning process, investigating social, technological, environmental, economic and political shifts capable of shaping the bioeconomy in the coming decades. The result was a strategic report, a radar of 96 forces of change and strategic constellations that revealed new connections and opportunities for thinking about the region's future.
#03
When the future stops being presented and starts being lived
During COP30, the research was turned into a design fiction experience. Participants took on the role of evaluation committee for the fictional Aurora Verde Fund and were tasked with deciding which bioeconomy project should occupy an experimental territory in the Amazon. Before deciding, they got to know the fund, explored the territory, analysed three proposals, interacted with AIs representing each project, argued their case and cast their votes.
- 01A Saudi investor seeks to occupy the territory.
- 02The Aurora Verde Fund offers capital to drive the regenerative bioeconomy and ecological intelligence in the Amazon.
- 03Three intervention options, meaningful conversations and a plenary vote.
#04
Three paths for one Amazon
Drawing on the strategic constellations, we developed three speculative bioeconomy projects, each exploring a distinct vision for the future of the Amazon. Rather than offering answers, they were designed to provoke choices and open new possibilities for discussion.
Living Embassy of the Forest
Mandí'ko
A new governance for the forest.
Amazonian Institute of Neuroshamanism
Inàcode
Regenerative medicine bridging science and ancestral knowledge.
Neo-extractivism and Bioindustrial Security
Tântalo
A bioindustry guided by sovereignty and regeneration.
#05
Fiction to provoke real reflection
Only after the discussions and the vote was it revealed that the Aurora Verde Fund, the territory and the three projects were fictional. On discovering that they had made decisions about speculative futures, participants realised that the real aim of the experience was not to pick a winner, but to raise the quality of the conversation about the possible paths for the Amazon bioeconomy.
#06
Building new collective futures
Participants were invited to create new possibilities for the Amazon bioeconomy based on the provocations presented. The project showed how design can turn research into experience, broaden repertoires and create spaces where different actors stop merely discussing the future and start actively shaping it.
