Amazonian Leapfrogging 3.0 | Confronting Tipping Points and Exponentializing Nature-Based Solutions
Thu, 5/8—Fri, 5/9 · Various
Brazil LAB, Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies
Amazonian Leapfrogging 3.0 will be held at Princeton University on May 8-9, 2025. The conference will bring together leaders in science, policy, finance and business, civil society, media, and social entrepreneurship from Brazil, Princeton, and beyond to explore nature-based solutions that promote conservation and socioeconomic development in the Brazilian Amazon. Doing so requires a better understanding of this critical juncture, a clear identification of the obstacles, and implementation of breakthrough ideas for exponential action to protect and restore forests, enhance ecosystem services and biodiversity, and promote a sustainable bioeconomy, low-carbon agriculture, and adaptive infrastructure.
Schedule
May 8, 2025 – Lewis Auditorium, Robertson Hall
1:30 pm
Opening Remarks
João Biehl, Gabriel Vecchi, and Deborah Yashar
1:45 pm
Amazon at Tipping Points & Indigenous Sciences
Panelists: Marina Hirota (UFSC/Serrapilheira), Erika Berenguer (Oxford), Justino Rezende Tuyuka (UFAM), and Eduardo Brondizio (Indiana University)
Discussant: Adriana Petryna (U Penn)
3:00 pm
Latest Princeton Studies on Climate Change and Adaptation
Gabriel Vecchi & Jamie Caldwell, Jonathan Levine, David Wilcove & Alex Wiebe, Eric Larson
Discussant: Agustín Fuentes (Princeton)
Discussion with participants
4:00 pm
Coffee Break
4:30 pm
The Rainforest as an Indigenous-Built Environment: Lessons for Sustainable Conservation and Biodiversity
Eduardo Neves (USP)
Discussant: Bernardo Esteves (Revista Piauí)
Discussion with participants
5:30 pm
Where Are We in the Amazonian Leapfrogging Trajectory?
Panelists: Tasso Azevedo (MapBiomas), Beto Veríssimo (Amazônia 2030), André Lima (Ministry of the Environment, Brazil)
Discussant: Jennifer Widner (Princeton) and Candido Bracher (Philanthropist)
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May 9, 2025 – Julis Romo Rabinowitz 399
8:00 am
Breakfast
8:30 am
Opening remarks
8:45 am
Intensified Ecological Pressures, Organized Crime, and Institutional Obstacles
Panelists: Ane Alencar (IPAM), Leila Pereira (Insper), Ubiratan Cazetta (ANPR)
Discussant: Marcia Castro (Harvard)
10:00 am
Political-Economic Conditions for Leapfrogging (Forest Carbon, Land Use Intensification, Financing)
Panelists: José Alexandre Scheinkman (Columbia), Juliano Assunção (PUC-Rio/CPI-Brazil), Juliana Santiago (BNDES)
Discussant: Navroz Dubash (Princeton)
11:15 am
Coffee break
11:30 am
Keynote Address: On the Right to a Healthy Environment
Luís Roberto Barroso (Chief Justice of Brazil’s Supreme Court)
Discussant: Razia Iqbal (Princeton)
1:00 pm
Lunch
2:00 pm
Breakthrough Science I – Amazon Water Links: Connecting Air, Surface and Groundwater
Marina Hirota (UFSC/Serrapilheira) & Caio Mattos (UFSC/Serrapilheira)
Discussant: Reed Maxwell (Princeton)
2:30 pm
Breakthrough Science II – Cutting Down the (Hydropower) Plants: Deforestation and Electricity Generation in Brazil
Gustavo Pinto (CPI-Rio/Amazônia 2030)
Discussant: André Clark (Siemens Energy)
3:00 pm
Breakthrough Initiatives to Exponentiate Successful Pilots and Accelerate the Amazon Leapfrog I
Salo Coslovsky (NYU), Marcelo Medeiros (re.green), Bia Saldanha (Amazônia Meu Amor), Eduardo Figueiredo (Hydro)
Discussant: Charles Sabel (Columbia)
4:00 pm
Coffee break
4:30 pm
Breakthrough Initiatives to Exponentiate Successful Pilots and Accelerate the Amazon Leapfrog II
Paulo Barreto (Imazon), Valmir Ortega (Belterra), Eduardo Ourívio (Grupo Trigo), Hugo Barreto (Vale)
Discussant: Benjamin Bradlow (Princeton)
5:30 pm
The Place of the Amazon in the Planet’s Future
Luciano Huck (Globo), Denis Minev (Bemol), Renata Piazzon (Arapyau), Jorge Viana (Apex)
Moderators: Beto Veríssimo (Amazônia 2030) & Tasso Azevedo (MapBiomas)
