“Helder Zahluth Barbalho is from Belém, born on May 18, 1979. He graduated in Business Administration from the University of Amazônia and has a postgraduate degree in Public Management from Fundação Getúlio Vargas. Helder’s first elected position was as councillor of Ananindeua (Pará’s second largest city) in 2000, being the most voted in the municipality. In 2002, he was elected state deputy, becoming the youngest legislator ever elected for office in the state of Pará. In 2004, he was elected to the position of mayor of Ananindeua, having taken office at the age of 25, becoming the youngest mayor in the history of Pará and was re-elected in 2008. In 2018, he was elected Governor of Pará and in 2022 he was re-elected with more than 70% of votes, percentually the most voted Governor in Brazil. Before that, the governor was Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Minister of Ports Secretariat and Minister of National Integration. Since 2023 he is the president of the Interstate Consortium for Sustainable Development of the Legal Amazon, a collegiate body composed of all governors of the Brazilian Amazon, reelected by unanimous vote.
As of 2019, the governor prioritized a Sustainable Development and Climate agenda, also directing his government to act based on the Sustainable Development Goals. (SDGs), established within the scope of the UN. In this sense, the State Policy Law on Climate Change was sanctioned, the «Amazônia Agora Plan» (Amazon Now Plan), which contains the Sectoral Plan for Change in Soil and Forest Use, combined with a Plan to Combat Deforestation and a Socioeconomic Development Plan, as well as created the «Regulariza Pará Program», for land and environmental regularization, and the Eastern Amazon Fund, a private financial platform with public private management, capable of receiving donation resources and other funds.
In 2021, the State of Pará hosted the World Bioeconomy Forum, which resulted in the State Bioeconomy Plan, launched at COP27, in Sharm El-Sheik, in 2022. In December 2023, it was the turn of the State Restoration Plan launched at COP28, in Dubai. In 2025 Belém, the capital city of Pará will host the COP30. To prepare for this great event, the State government, together with the federal government, has been undertaking a major investment plan for urban improvements, road systems and infrastructure, training, hotels and improvement of services, preparing the city for the enormous demand that will be created.”
