Biodiversity as Innovation Infrastructure: The Potential of the Cerrado and the Amazon

Brazilian biodiversity is often discussed mainly in the context of conservation. This association is necessary, but incomplete. The Cerrado and the Amazon also concentrate genetic, biological, and chemical diversity that we still only partially understand and that can support new research, ingredients, materials, processes, and technologies.

This perspective gained relevance during Climate Week NYC 2026. Across more than 1,500 events held in New York, one of the central messages was the need to turn environmental commitments into implementation, investment, and infrastructure. At the Nature Hub, the discussion specifically advanced the idea of nature as critical infrastructure for resilience and the economy.

For Brazil, this discussion can go even further. If ecosystems are infrastructure because they support water, climate, food, and supply chains, biodiversity can also be understood as innovation infrastructure. Preserving the Cerrado and the Amazon therefore means preserving possibilities that science is only beginning to uncover.

Nature is also beginning to be understood as infrastructure

Treating nature as infrastructure changes the economic logic of conservation. Forests, soils, rivers, and other ecosystems are no longer seen simply as external elements of productive activity. They are increasingly recognized as systems on which companies, supply chains, and economies depend.

This was one of the explicit discussions at the Nature Hub during Climate Week NYC 2026, which brought together more than 850 participants from governments, companies, financial institutions, academia, Indigenous organizations, and civil society. Part of the event focused precisely on nature as critical infrastructure, connecting biodiversity with adaptation, resilience, and economic development.

In Brazil, this perspective is particularly relevant because the Cerrado and the Amazon provide more than ecosystem services. They also store something less visible: biological information.

Each species contains genes, metabolic pathways, defense mechanisms, and adaptations shaped through evolution. These systems give rise to pigments, lipids, phenolic compounds, terpenes, proteins, polysaccharides, and many other molecules that may become the subject of scientific research and, eventually, industrial applications.

It is in this sense that biodiversity becomes more than natural heritage. It also becomes infrastructure for the production of knowledge.

The Cerrado and the Amazon are living libraries that are still only partially understood

The Cerrado and the Amazon represent two very different expressions of this wealth. In the Cerrado, conditions such as dry seasons, high solar exposure, fire, and specific soil characteristics have contributed to the evolution of species with distinct adaptation strategies. Today, the biome is home to more than 14,000 plant species, in addition to thousands of animal species.

Species diversity also means chemical diversity. A scientific review published in 2026, for example, analyzed four Cerrado plants — baru, mangaba, black sucupira, and cagaita — and identified a wide range of metabolites, including flavonoids, tannins, chalcones, isoflavones, phenolic acids, and triterpenes. The study itself emphasizes, however, that important research gaps remain before this potential can be fully characterized and understood.

In the Amazon, the scale is even greater. ICMBio estimates that the biome contains approximately 40,000 plant species. At the same time, institutions such as INPA conduct research not only on flora and fauna, but also on genetics, microbiota, ecological interactions, and bioprospecting, connecting biodiversity knowledge with sustainable value chains and the bioeconomy.

This helps us understand the Cerrado and the Amazon as living libraries. Their value lies not only in what we already know and use, but also in the knowledge that may still be generated from them.

The library comparison is important because it avoids a purely extractive interpretation. A mine creates value primarily when its resources are removed. A library creates value when it is preserved, studied, and transformed into knowledge. Biodiversity should follow a logic much closer to the latter.

From biodiversity to innovation, there is science

Recognizing the chemical potential of a species does not automatically mean that a new ingredient or market-ready product already exists. Between a biodiversity-based raw material and an industrial application lie research, characterization, technological development, stability and safety assessments, standardization, formulation, and scale-up.

This is precisely the stage that turns biodiversity into innovation.

The Brazilian bioeconomy has an important opportunity here. Rather than acting only as a supplier of natural raw materials, Brazil can add science and technology to biodiversity and develop higher-value ingredients, processes, and intellectual property.

This logic can also extend to parts of production chains that usually receive little value. One example is pequi peel. Although the fruit has economic and cultural importance in the Cerrado, its peel can be treated as a byproduct of the production chain. At Nanoterra, it began to be studied as a raw material for the development of NanoPequi, a nanoactive ingredient designed for cosmetic applications.

The example is relevant less because of the product itself and more because of the shift in perspective it represents: the same biodiversity can generate more knowledge and value when science and technology allow us to look beyond established uses.

This is one of the opportunities of a bioeconomy based on the Cerrado and the Amazon. The goal is not to exploit as many species as possible, but to build scientific capacity to better understand these biomes, identify opportunities responsibly, and create value chains in which economic value is linked to the maintenance of biodiversity.

Conservation also means preserving future possibilities

Climate Week NYC 2026 helped reinforce the idea that nature is not outside the economy. It is part of the infrastructure that sustains economic activity itself. For a megadiverse country such as Brazil, this perspective can be expanded: the Cerrado and the Amazon are also infrastructures for knowledge and innovation.

We still understand only part of the biological and chemical information contained in these biomes. For this reason, conserving biodiversity does not mean protecting only what we already know to be valuable. It also means keeping open the possibility of discovering what remains unknown.

The challenge for the Brazilian bioeconomy is precisely to transform this possibility into scientific, technological, and economic development without separating value creation from conservation. It is in this convergence that biodiversity can move beyond being seen merely as a resource and become recognized as a strategic asset for innovation.

For Nanoterra, this perspective is directly connected to the purpose of enhancing the value of conserved biodiversity through regenerative technologies: using science and technology to help ensure that biodiversity becomes more valuable when preserved and understood than when degraded.

References

CORDEIRO, Giovanna Patricio; ARAÚJO, Kauanny Picinin; RIAL, Rafael Cardoso. Bioactive compounds associated with medicinal infusions and phytochemical preparations from Brazilian Cerrado plants: phytochemical diversity and structural elucidation. Phytochemistry Reviews, v. 25, p. 4487–4524, 2026. DOI: 10.1007/s11101-026-10261-7. Available at: Springer Nature — full article. Accessed on: 6 Oct. 2026.

BRASIL. Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade. Amazônia. Brasília, DF: ICMBio, 2021. Updated on 14 Aug. 2026. Available at: ICMBio — Amazônia. Accessed on: 6 Oct. 2026.

BRASIL. Ministério do Meio Ambiente e Mudança do Clima. Em cerimônia alusiva ao Dia do Cerrado, portarias assinadas estabelecem áreas prioritárias para recarga hídrica e regras para PSA. Brasília, DF: MMA, 17 Sept. 2026. Available at: Ministério do Meio Ambiente — Dia do Cerrado. Accessed on: 6 Oct. 2026.

NATURE4CLIMATE. Nature Hub Climate Week NYC 2026 in Review: From a £400 Million TFFF Commitment to New Ocean Economy Insights. [S. l.]: Nature4Climate, 28 Sept. 2026. Available at: Nature4Climate — Nature Hub CWNYC 2026 in Review. Accessed on: 6 Oct. 2026.

NANOTERRA. NanoPequi™: ficha técnica 2026. Goiânia: Nanoterra, 2026.