How Amazon Border Regions Can Drive Sustainable Growth

Amazonian border regions are geographically isolated areas, have limited economic integration, and face overlapping vulnerabilities: remoteness, weaker institutional presence, and prevalence of illicit activities. Yet, they also possess the conditions to harness agglomeration economies, lower transaction costs, and facilitate public–private investment. As discussed in our latest publication, the key is to strengthen existing value chains and create the conditions for investment toward sectors that combine competitiveness with sustainability.

Despite their isolation, Amazonian border regions often play a more meaningful role in national exports than one would think (Table 1). In some countries, Amazonian exports are a significant share of national exports; in others, they are modest but include highly differentiated products with strong potential for added value.

In Bolivia, Amazonian exports reached $2.018 billion in 2024 accounting for 22.6% of national exports. This is a striking figure given that predominantly Amazonian departments represent only about 4.1% of national GDP, underscoring the region’s outsized role in the country’s external trade. Exports are dominated by agro-industrial residues, vegetable oils, meat, fruits, timber, and Brazil nuts. 
In Brazil, the Legal Amazon exported $60.6 billion (18% of national exports), while accounting for roughly 9.5% of national GDP, with exports concentrated in oilseeds, minerals, beef, cereals, cotton, timber, coffee, cocoa, and Amazonian fruits.

Colombia’s Amazonia exported $815 million (1.6% of national exports), mostly fossil fuels, but also rubber, fruits, timber, cocoa, and fish. Ecuador’s Amazonia exported $9.6 billion (27.9% of national exports), mainly crude oil, but also flours, peanuts, fruits, chocolate, timber, gold, and coffee. Peru’s Amazonian exports were $220 million (0.5% of national exports), with coffee, gold, cocoa, fuels, timber, fruits, and fish. Guyana and Suriname’s exports are countrywide, with gold, oil, rice, fish, and timber.

Table 1. Amazonian exports

Source: Galindo et al. (2025) 

The Trade Imperative or Why Trade Matters

Trade is central to productive transformation in Amazonia. In regions with sparse economic activity, trade can offer a pathway to expand markets, generate income, and catalyze local activity, but its effectiveness depends on improved connectivity. Integration into regional and global value chains generates benefits that spread to neighboring sectors: improved quality standards, traceability, logistics, environmental compliance, and technological adoption. 

These effects are particularly relevant in border areas, where productive systems are disjointed. This approach is consistent with earlier analysis showing how greater physical and economic integration across more than 14,000 kilometers of Amazonian territory can reduce isolation, lower trade costs, and open new development opportunities for remote regions.

Areas of potential: Amazonia’s tri-border clusters

The potential impact of trade on growth and livelihoods depends on several factors, particularly how effectively nearby communities, businesses, and governments work together across borders. These cross-border clusters bring together municipalities and regions that share ecosystems, productive linkages, and institutional challenges, and that are located close to one another and to international borders. In the region, three key tri-border clusters have unique potential to foster greater economic opportunities, stronger growth, and improved livelihoods through trade. Their development can be fostered through a cluster-based, cross-border approach that builds on earlier IDB work on Amazon border regions, which highlights the role of territorial integration and productive development in reducing isolation and strengthening local economies.

The Brazil–Colombia–Peru cluster lies at the confluence of the Amazonas and Putumayo rivers and is accessible only by plane and boat. Half of its 244,000 inhabitants live in the binational city of Leticia (Colombia) and Tabatinga (Brazil), where people and goods continually cross a barely perceptible border. Trade is a key economic driver, but largely informal. 

Tourism creates significant opportunities, including birdwatching, scientific tourism, sport fishing, and gastronomy, alongside agricultural activities such as fruit pulp, jams, supplements, cocoa, and yuca. Recent experiences in Leticia and Tabatinga show how cross-border cooperation can help formalize these activities and turn everyday cross-border interaction into a driver of sustainable tourism and local value-chain development. However, essential supporting factors remain limited, including access to appropriate technologies, logistics, and export markets.

To unlock potential, the cluster needs stronger institutional presence and cooperation, greater investment in connectivity infrastructure (especially river ports), and improved access to markets for goods and services. Essential supporting factors include bioeconomy promotion, which can help address persistent gaps in technology, logistics, and market access, as well as education, innovation, ecosystem protection, and community inclusion.

The Brazil–Bolivia–Peru cluster is home to some of South America’s largest rivers, with 600,000 people (80% in Brazil). The largest city is Rio Branco (Brazil), followed by Cobija (Bolivia), a free trade zone. The development trilemma is visible in deforestation from cattle ranching and road construction. The cluster’s connections to Brazilian cities and the Pacific coast offer growth potential, but many roads need maintenance. 

Main activities include agriculture, cattle, fishing, gold mining, forestry, and some manufacturing. Deforestation and loss of natural capital are serious issues. Science, technology, and Indigenous knowledge can boost productivity without expanding the agricultural frontier. Priorities include better storage, commercial facilities, production practices, financing, and tourism training.

The Brazil–Guyana–Venezuela cluster spans the Guiana Shield, with 600,000 people (80% in Brazil, mainly in Boa Vista). Agriculture (soy, corn, beef), fisheries, and ecotourism are key sectors. Guyana is investing in sustainable agriculture, hydropower, and solar energy. Opportunities include developing value chains compatible with the region’s ecological assets, improving logistics, access to finance, and workforce training. Challenges include poor road conditions, migration, and environmental risks. Strengthening cross-border cooperation, institutions, and infrastructure is essential for sustainable growth.

To be sure, transforming these border regions will require sustained commitment from multiple governments and substantial investment over many years. Data gaps make it difficult to track progress precisely, and the very remoteness that defines these areas means that infrastructure improvements may take longer to materialize than in more accessible regions. Climate variability and commodity price fluctuations add further uncertainty. Nevertheless, the convergence of national interests around sustainable Amazon development creates a unique opportunity for coordinated action.

A Path Forward

The tri-border regions of Amazonia are not just frontiers; they are laboratories for integrated, place-based solutions. By promoting exports and linkages between local firms, investing in infrastructure and connectivity, and advancing sustainable practices in agriculture, fisheries, and tourism, these clusters can become models for sustainable development.

The trilemma is real, but it is not insurmountable. When the right conditions are in place, trade and integration can help address it. Policymakers should prioritize three concrete actions: first, invest in river port and logistics infrastructure to connect remote producers to domestic and international markets; second, harmonize cross-border regulations and procedures to reduce trade barriers and transaction costs; and third, support bioeconomy and nature-based enterprises that create value from standing forests and healthy ecosystems.

For private investors and development partners, these clusters offer early-move opportunities to build resilient, sustainable supply chains and scale inclusive business models in frontier markets.

This blog was written in collaboration with Arturo Jose Galindo, Nadia Rocha, and Christian Volpe.

Want to learn more? Download our latest publication: Amazonia: A Journey Toward Prosperity & Resilience.