**Acknowledgements**

*Ecosystem and Biodiversity of Amazonia*

**4. Conclusions**

are competitive and ecologically correct.

In a geopolitical context, the ceramic production center at Iranduba has great economic and social importance for regional development. A redefinition of strategies and objectives together with the creation of participative public policies focused on bioeconomic principles will result in positive results in markets and will generate business models that will have a global impact. An important incentive to foster the implementation of new market strategies is the elaboration of strategic planning that identifies the possibilities and vulnerabilities that involve the ceramics sector. A tool that is commonly used for the elaboration of strategic planning is the SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) matrix. The SWOT analysis allows for evaluation of how a company or group of companies behave in relation to competitors, identification of the factors that are responsible for this difference, fragilities, and the market opportunities that can be explored.

The SWOT matrix below synthesizes the principal environmental, economic, and social aspects necessary for the implementation of production of bioeconomic

Each segment of industry acts in a dynamic environment where companies must concentrate their efforts to establish a set of activities that can explore new markets,

The simplified strategic diagnostic in **Figure 13** will help ceramic industries identify points of rupture in their production chains and the bioeconomic alterna-

In the red structural ceramics production chain, there are biotic and abiotic elements that interfere in the conditions of biodiversity. The industries in the ceramic production center in Iranduba have high potential to improve their production standards, strengthen relationships between stakeholders, and offer products that

The geological diversity of clays and the strategic location of the companies favors the manufacture and distribution of sustainable products, principally bricks

The cultural, socioenvironmental, and economic dynamics of the ceramic production center at Iranduba are very complex and challenging. The logic involved with providing incentive to produce red ceramic products based on bioeconomic strategies is not only rooted in the need to increase productive efficiency, but also in the necessity to respect the environment and develop a series of products made in

the Amazon that are considered highly sustainable.

The areas where clay is extracted to produce red ceramic products present excellent conditions to be able to, in the same natural environment, extract raw material, and engage in pisciculture to produce fish for subsistence and for sale in markets. These actions will stimulate an increase in income, access to new technologies, and a reduction of the impacts on biodiversity caused by natural resource extraction. With respect to the production process that occurs at the ceramics manufacture facility itself, the burning of wood derived from native forest timber is currently the principal fuel used by these companies in the region. Strategies based on bioeconomic principles should be adopted so that there is a gradual substitution of this wood source for residual biomass materials. The introduction of different types of biomass including a biotechnological combination of plant fibers with seeds, fruits, and other materials that are discarded from agroforestry operations represent a promising alternative as a fuel source for the kilns of ceramic industries

products in the ceramic production center at Iranduba (**Figure 15**).

balancing development with conservation of biological resources.

tives necessary for organizational and technological restructuring.

and tiles, that are based on bioeconomic resources and principles.

**176**

in the Amazon.

The authors thank the Syndicate of the Ceramic Kiln Industry of the State of Amazonas (SINDICER/AM) for the excellent information given on the current situation of the production chain of the ceramic industry center in Iranduba. The authors are also very grateful of the Biodiversity and Biotechnology Network of the Legal Amazon (Bionorte) for financial resources for publication.
