Brazilian Government Launches the National Bioeconomy Development Plan (PNDBio)
The Federal Government has launched the National Bioeconomy Development Plan (PNDBio), established under the National Bioeconomy Strategy created by Decree No. 12,044/2024. The initiative aims to transform Brazil’s biodiversity into one of the structural pillars of the country’s economic development by 2035, positioning its megabiodiversity as a driver of social inclusion and a response to the climate crisis. Key objectives include job and income generation, increased investment, and strengthening of environmental conservation, with a direct impact on the territories and populations that depend on biodiversity.
The plan sets out 21 targets, 8 strategic missions, and 185 strategic actions organized into three pillars: socio-bioeconomy and environmental assets (Pillar 1), competitive bioindustrialization (Pillar 2), and sustainable biomass production (Pillar 3).
Pillar 1 envisions the structuring of a community-based business ecosystem focused on the socio-bioeconomy, with targets to be achieved by 2030, including:
- Supporting 6,000 community-based businesses
- Increasing by 20% the number of contracts under the credit line of the National Program for Strengthening Family Agriculture (PRONAF aimed at low-income producers and doubling the annual gross value generated from socio-biodiversity
- Providing payment for environmental services to 300,000 beneficiaries among Indigenous Peoples, Traditional Peoples and Communities, and Family Farmers (PIPCTAF)
- Restoring 2.3 million hectares of native vegetation integrated into bioeconomy value chains.
Another objective is to increase by 50%, by 2035, the number of organizations eligible to receive resources from the benefit-sharing mechanisms related to genetic heritage, a legal mechanism established to ensure that traditional communities economically benefit from industrial gains derived from the use of genetic information from plants, animals, and microorganisms.
Pillar 2 focuses efforts on bioindustrialization, with emphasis on the health and wellness sectors and the sustainable use of Brazil’s genetic heritage. Key targets include increasing the share of herbal medicines manufactured in Brazil to 5% of national pharmaceutical market revenue and reaching a 7% share of renewable raw materials in the production of basic chemical inputs.
Pillar 3 is dedicated to sustainable biomass production based on agricultural and forestry inputs, including strengthening of the renewable biochemical industry and increasing national biofuel production by 70% by 2035. This pillar also sets targets for boosting productivity by 20% above current projections and restoring 12.5 million hectares of degraded land through sustainable production for the bioindustry.
The announcement was accompanied by R$350 million from the Amazon Fund allocated to socio-bioeconomy and innovation projects in the Legal Amazon. The funds are divided into three initiatives: Coopera+ Amazônia (R$107 million); the “Cooperar com a Floresta” project, focused on the state of Acre (R$69 million); and the “Desafios da Amazônia” program (R$181.3 million).
In addition, PNDBio incorporates overarching strategies, including environmental and social safeguards, financing instruments, and coordination with the National System for Science, Technology and Innovation, with implementation monitored through systems designed to ensure transparency, traceability, and legal certainty.
The Environmental, Climate Change and Sustainability practice of Tauil & Chequer Advogados in association with Mayer Brown LLP, remains available to provide further clarification.
