Amazonia Connections: The role of blended finance in fostering an ecosystem of social impact and forest friendly enterprises in the Brazilian Amazon

What roles can philanthropic and impact investment funds play in fostering a forest-friendly economy at scale? The next decade will be a decisive one, as it will determine the fate of the Amazonian forests. Maintaining the remaining eighty percent of the Amazon’s forest cover is crucial to sustaining our planet’s climatic function. We have witnessed an increasing opportunity to use blended capital to leverage strategies that demonstrate the viability, scalability, and positive impact that forest-based enterprises can have in providing jobs and improving livelihoods while keeping standing forests. This panel will discuss strategies and cases on how investors and partners are deploying capital in a coordinated and strategic manner to create a complementary and mixed portfolio of regeneration and conservation initiatives that sustains this forest-based economy. Our speakers will debate how their efforts to combine entrepreneurs, local communities, green finance, and purpose-driven businesses can foster an inclusive and sustainable forest-friendly economy in the Amazon.