Connecting the bioeconomy to the market: how better transport can unlock jobs and incomes in the Amazon

Deep in the Brazilian Amazon, a community collective depends on pirarucu fishing for its livelihood. Once caught, the pirarucu —a fish that can reach 200 kilograms— begins a long journey to market. Fishers sell part of their catch locally, but losses occur along the route due to delays and limited cold storage capacity. Main markets are urban centers, like Manaus and Belém, where pirarucu is valued in gourmet kitchens, and its leather supports export-oriented production.

Reaching these markets remains the central constraint. Transport from remote areas can take several days by river and requires larger boats and reliable refrigeration. As a result, intermediaries capture most of the value along the supply chain, while local communities where the fish is caught are left out of key job-creating activities.

This is not an isolated story. It is the daily reality for hundreds of thousands of people whose livelihoods depend on the Amazon bioeconomy. Products such as açaí, Brazil nuts, and cocoa are in growing demand in global markets, prized for their nutritional value, sustainability credentials, and cultural significance. Yet the communities that harvest and steward these resources capture only a fraction of the value they generate due to limited transport infrastructure, leaving producers disconnected from markets, processors, and buyers.

The transport gap is a jobs and income gap

Transport infrastructure —navigable waterways, ports, docks, reliable roads, logistics, and storage facilities — determines economic opportunity in the Amazon region.  When transport infrastructure functions well, producers deliver goods to markets on time and in good condition. When infrastructure fails, value shifts to intermediaries, concentrates in urban centers, and keeps rural communities in low-productivity cycles.

In the Amazon, transport infrastructure deficits are pervasive. Despite an expansive river network of over 380,000 km, river logistics—the lifeline of the region—are slow and unreliable. Seasonal fluctuations in water levels can cut communities off for months at a time. Fixed docks become inaccessible during low-water seasons, stranding harvests. Droughts lead to drastic increases in freight rates, such as more than 150 percent in 2024. Cold storage at collection and transit points is scarce, meaning perishable bioeconomy products deteriorate rapidly, reducing quality and commanding lower prices in the market.

Transformative transport investments

The World Bank report, A place-based infrastructure approach for bioeconomies in the Amazon Region, identifies several transport investments that could have transformative impacts on bioeconomy value chains and community livelihoods.

• Strategic ports can anchor local economies and surrounding rural and forest communities. These hubs can host clusters of infrastructure investment, including transport, storage, and processing facilities. By concentrating infrastructure where bioeconomy value chains converge, these hubs allow small producers to access processing and logistics services without requiring each community to have its own sophisticated transport and logistics sector.
• Floating docks and adaptive river infrastructure can ensure year-round connectivity.  Unlike fixed docks, floating structures adapt to seasonal water level changes, ensuring year-round access to river transport routes. This alone can extend the viable harvesting and trading season, reducing the pressure on communities to sell quickly and cheaply during peak supply periods.
• Cold storage infrastructure at transport nodes can reduce losses and improve product quality. Refrigerated storage at river ports and road collection points would dramatically reduce post-harvest losses and spoilage.
• Multi-modal connectivity can link producers to markets more efficiently.   Integrating river, road, and logistics networks improves access to processing centers and urban demand. A place-based approach remains essential, as solutions must reflect the diverse geography and economic conditions across the Amazon.

Transport as a driver for better incomes and jobs

Transport infrastructure in the Amazon is not just an economic issue —it is a question of who captures value and who is left behind. Currently, the absence of reliable transport leaves producers—often indigenous communities, traditional forest communities, and small-scale family harvesters — behind.

Better transport creates opportunities for local processing by creating new and better jobs locally. When cold storage and processing infrastructure is available near harvesting sites rather than only in distant cities, value-added activities and the jobs they create remain in rural communities rather than migrating to urban centers.

This matters enormously for the kind of development the Amazon needs: inclusive, place-based growth that improves livelihoods while preserving the ecosystems on which the bioeconomy depends.

Investing in transport infrastructure can drive exactly this inclusive and sustainable economic development. Targeted investments, floating docks, cold chains, rural road improvements, and strategic logistics hubs will facilitate economic access for those most capable of preserving the Amazon’s bioeconomy, such pirarucu collectives, while creating more and better jobs for these remote communities.

Note: This analysis was supported by the Spanish Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean Trust Fund.