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The Amazônia em Transformação: História e Perspectivas (Amazon Transformation: History and Prospects) research group held a roundtable on the theme Economic Valuation of the Standing Forest: New Perspectives for Human Resource Development at IEA on February 21st.

Maritta Koch-Wesser opened the meeting

The meeting brought together a group of guests who play an important role in the environmental, climatic and Amazonian issues in order to present and discuss the proposed development of a Rainforest Business School. The initiative is aimed at training human resources in sustainable business in the Amazon, meeting the demand for specialists prepared to harness the economic potential of the standing forest.

Maritta Koch-Weser, coordinator of the group, opened the discussion with an introduction on the subject. José Pedro de Oliveira Costa, professor of the Architecture and Urbanism faculty at USP (FAU) and assistant coordinator of the group, brokered a debate about the strategic viability of the project in the context of environmental, scientific and academic policies as well as the opportunities of inter-institutional collaboration.

In the second part of the event, lawyer and environmentalist Fabio Feldmann, who is one of the founders of the NGO SOS Mata Atlântica, moderated a discussion among participants on lines of funding and co-financing for the preparation, planning and implementation of the Rainforest Business School. Each stage should take about three years.

Lastly, Koch-Weser led a discussion on possible steps and commitments of collaboration and institutional contributions regarding the formatting of a work program for 2013.

From what has been discussed at the roundtable, agronomist Warwick Manfrinato and architect Maria de Lourdes Davies de Freitas, executive directors of the Amazônia em Transformação: História e Perspectivas research group, will take the creation of the Rainforest Business School to the next step.