From left to right: Bárbara Cagliari, Head of Government and External Relations, British Council; Rossa Commane, Director for Latin America, UK Science and Innovation Network, British Embassy in Brasília; Marcel do Nascimento Botelho, President, Pará State Research Foundation (FAPESPA); Odir Dellagostin, President, CONFAP; Dalila Andrade Oliveira, Director, Institutional and International Cooperation and Innovation, CNPq; João Arthur Reis, Advisor to Presidency of FAPESP for Amazon+10 Initiative

Published on 01/08/2024

By Bruna Bopp  |  Agência FAPESP –  The Amazon+10 Initiative has announced partnerships with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the British Council, which will invest in the program via the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology’s International Science Partnerships Fund. The ISPF supports collaboration between UK researchers and innovators and their peers from around the world.

The announcement was made during the opening ceremony of the National Forum of the National Council of State Research Foundations (CONFAP), held in Brasilia on December 13, 2023. 

The Amazon+10 Initiative supports collaborative research projects aimed at biodiversity conservation and adaptation to climate change, protection of traditional populations and communities, addressing urban challenges, and fostering the bioeconomy as an economic development policy in the region. 

The researchers involved are funded by state research foundations (FAPs) in 25 Brazilian states to conduct projects in Legal Amazonia, a nine-state area created by Brazilian federal law in 1953 to promote special environmental protection and development policies for the Amazon biome.

Led by CONFAP and the National Council of State Departments of Science, Technology and Innovation (CONSECTI), in partnership with the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), an arm of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Amazon+10 has so far allocated almost BRL 100 million to scientific projects.

The resources made available by UKRI, worth GBP 4 million, will be specifically directed towards the Scientific Expeditions Call for Proposals, launched in November by Amazon+10 and CNPq. Applications for funding under this call are open until April 29, 2024 (read more at: agencia.fapesp.br/49901). 

“The UK is very excited to be part of the Amazon+10 Initiative. UK-Brazil cooperation has been very strong for a long time,” said Rossa Commane, the UK Science and Innovation Network’s Director for Latin America at the British Embassy in Brasília. The initiative is aligned with the UK’s policies regarding Brazil, he added. “This GBP 4 million contribution is a new opportunity for British researchers to work with colleagues in Brazil on little-known parts of the Amazon, and to build equitable relationships with traditional and Indigenous communities. It’s fantastic to be part of this important next step in UK-Brazil cooperation.”

The British Council’s support for scientific expeditions will consist of GBP 1 million to fund UK-Brazil projects lasting up to two years and involving documentation of socio-biodiversity in the Brazilian Amazon. “For us, this is a unique opportunity to be part of the Amazon+10 Initiative,” said Bárbara Cagliari, the organization’s Head of Government and External Relations in Brazil. “Our presence here dates from 1945. We’re always involved in educational and cultural projects. Sustainability is one of the issues that have become cross-cutting in our work.”

CNPq and the 19 FAPs that issued the call for proposals to organize scientific expeditions have allocated BRL 59.2 million to fund research aimed at expanding scientific knowledge of socio-biodiversity in underexplored parts of the world’s largest tropical rainforest. Including the UK’s two contributions, the scientific expeditions fund now has some BRL 88.2 million available.

Postdoctoral fellowships

The British Council will also invest in other joint actions with the Amazon+10 Initiative, such as a program of six postdoctoral fellowships for early-career researchers from Legal Amazonia, each worth GBP 360,000. “These funds will be used to train young researchers from the region and foster production of local content, which is highly relevant in our view. We want to continue building closer ties,” Cagliari said.

Another joint program is Amazonia BR/UK Workshop Grants, which received until January 7 proposals for the organization of scientific meetings to support new research projects involving collaboration between Brazilian and British researchers on topics relating to the Amazon. The call’s budget totaled GBP 370,000; funding for each project could reach GBP 53,000.

The aim of these investments is to strengthen UK-Brazil scientific collaboration by supporting research projects in pursuit of innovative and sustainable solutions to the challenges faced by the Amazon.

Source: https://agencia.fapesp.br/50587