Science Summit at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA78)

The Amazon Basin is one of the world's most biologically diverse areas, home to >10% of the world’s described species. Yet, the region is under threat; approximately 17% of the basin has been deforested, and an additional 17% of the biome has been degraded. Deforestation contributes to climate change, and places the region in danger of crossing a tipping point beyond which today’s forests can no longer exist.
The coming years are crucial for saving Amazon. Investing in education, science, technology, and innovation (ST&I) today can promote the sustainable use of resources in the long term, and build a vibrant, inclusive, knowledge-based economy based on new products and services that can be produced from standing forests. This requires building the region’s research capacity and dissemination of scientific knowledge to key stakeholder groups. 
At the time of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), this event aims to highlight the potential for a bioeconomy of healthy standing forests and flowing rivers in the Amazon, leveraged by investments in ST&I. The Science Panel for the Amazon (SPA) will present a policy brief “Supporting Bioeconomies of Healthy Standing Forests and Flowing Rivers”, outlining the need for a new bioeconomy in the Amazonian region and providing science-based, data-driven recommendations to conserve the forest, transform the Amazonian economy, and support Amazonian peoples. Together with the World Bank, the InterAmerican Development Bank, and the World Resources Institute, the session will also reflect on commitments made by the region’s governments during the Amazon Presidents’ Summit in August, and will discuss opportunities for policymakers and scientists to engage in dialogues and to promote the science-policy interface for a sustainable socio-bioeconomy of standing forests and flowing rivers in the region.