The virtual exhibition can be viewed here (image: Agência FAPESP)

Published on 11/10/2025

By Claudia Izique  |  Agência FAPESP – The Amazon has been the subject of scientific interest since the early 19th century, when German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt described the landscapes and species of the “equinoctial regions of America.” Since then, researchers from Brazil and abroad have expanded our knowledge of the ecosystem, biodiversity, local populations, and the nature-society relationship in the region, one of the central topics at the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) being held from November 10 to 21 in Belém.

Since 1962, FAPESP has supported research in the Amazon, including one of Paulo Vanzolini’s first expeditions to the region. Over the past six decades, more than 3,000 researchers have explored the forest, revealing its biodiversity and its role in providing environmental products and services, as well as its importance in the carbon cycle and climate regulation. The region is also home to over 30 million Brazilians.

Much of this research work is documented in the virtual exhibition, “Science in the Amazon: history, challenges, and discoveries,” inaugurated by the FAPESP Memory Center on November 6th, at the beginning of the Belém Climate Summit. The summit brought together heads of state, government ministers, and leaders of international organizations to discuss the main challenges and commitments for addressing climate change.

Paulo Vanzolini and zoology in the Amazon

The “Science in the Amazon” exhibition is divided into three chapters. The first documents the results of the Permanent Amazon Expedition (EPA) project, led by Vanzolini. With support from FAPESP, Vanzolini not only described several new species but also contributed to the formulation of the Refuge Theory.

He often invited artists to join the expedition, including José Cláudio da Silva, who painted a collection of one hundred oil paintings of the region’s flora and fauna. These paintings are now in São Paulo city as part of the collection of the Palácio dos Bandeirantes, the São Paulo state’s official government residence. The exhibition provides access to documents, photos, and images from Vanzolini’s expeditions, José Cláudio da Silva’s works, and interviews with zoologist Miguel Trefaut Rodrigues on Refuge Theory.

Trefaut directed the Museum of Zoology at the University of São Paulo from 1997 to 2001 and has conducted research in the Amazon since 1978. He has conducted over 40 years of expeditions to the region with the support of FAPESP, several of which are documented in the exhibition.

The first part also features an interview with Naercio Menezes, who specializes in ichthyology. He interned at the Museum of Zoology under Vanzolini’s guidance and participated in field research in the 1960s.

Amazon: research above the forest canopy

The second chapter focuses on research conducted above the tree canopy. This research aims to understand the role of forests in maintaining a balanced climate and the risks that deforestation and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions pose to life on our planet.

In an interview, Carlos Nobre, a professor at the Institute of Advanced Studies at USP and co-chair of the Scientific Panel for the Amazon, recounts the creation of the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Program in the Amazon (LBA) in 1996 and its results. The program involved researchers from Brazil, the United States, and five European countries. The goal was to study the functioning and interaction of all components of the Amazon ecosystem – the atmosphere, soils, rivers, flora, fauna, and humans – in depth. In an interview, geophysicist Maria Assunção Faus da Silva Dias, a USP researcher who coordinated the Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), describes the environment and challenges of intensive measurement campaigns for the LBA program in the states of Pará and Rondônia and shows photos of them.

In the same chapter, Paulo Artaxo, a professor at the USP Physics Institute and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), discusses the GOAmazon (Green Ocean Amazon) campaign of 2013, FAPESP’s first Thematic Projects for regional research, the challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and the urgency of adopting a low-carbon economy to stabilize the climate.

David Lapola, a researcher at the Center for Applied Meteorological and Climate Research in Agriculture at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), details the AmazonFACE experiment. This experiment investigates how increased atmospheric CO₂ affects the Amazon Rainforest, its biodiversity, and the ecosystem services it provides to humanity. Support for the experiment comes from the United Kingdom, the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation, and FAPESP (read more at agencia.fapesp.br/32470).

The impacts of deforestation and climate change are analyzed by Thelma Krug, leader of the COP30 Scientific Council. FAPESP’s strategies for promoting research in the region are described by Marcio de Castro, the Foundation’s scientific director.

The transformation of the forest

The third chapter pays tribute to pioneering researchers such as Luiz Hildebrando (1928-2014), Erney Camargo (1935-2023), Bertha Becker (1930-2013), and Warwick Kerr (1922-2018). These researchers paved the way for advancing knowledge and implementing public policies in the region. The chapter is also dedicated to recent research conducted beneath the forest canopy.

Eduardo Neves, director of the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at USP, explains how science and new technologies, such as LiDAR (light detection and ranging), have illuminated the pivotal role of forest peoples in creating the Amazon we know today over millennia.

The third chapter also discusses advances in geological research in the Amazon. Twenty years ago, this research focused on economic exploitation, including soil drilling to search for gas and oil deposits, as well as mineral reserves and the hydroelectric potential of rivers. Recently, however, research has begun investigating the formation of soils, rocks, and rivers in the Amazon, as well as their interaction with air and living beings, from an ecological perspective.

André Sawakuchi, a professor at the Institute of Geosciences at USP who works on the Trans-Amazon Drilling Project (TADP) – a FAPESP Thematic Project aiming to understand how the Amazon’s geological formation contributed to its becoming the most biodiverse place in the world – talks about this change.

Carlos Américo Pacheco, the former CEO of FAPESP’s Executive Board, discusses Amazônia+10, an initiative proposed by FAPESP and adopted by the National Council of State Research Foundations (CONFAP) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). This initiative supports collaborative research projects focused on biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation, protecting traditional populations and communities, addressing urban challenges, and promoting the bioeconomy as a regional economic development policy.

During COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, FAPESP announced the creation of a consortium involving São Paulo and the nine states that comprise the so-called Legal Amazon (hence, Amazon+10) to conduct scientific research in the region. Due to its success, CONFAP took over the program, which now includes the participation of State Research Foundations (FAPs) from 25 states.

The third chapter also addresses the economic inclusion of forest peoples and the complementarity of different types of knowledge. In an interview, anthropologist Manoela Carneiro da Cunha warns that the scientific community cannot ignore the perspectives of the people living in the Amazon when studying the region. This necessary dialogue brings new and important challenges to the field of research.

The exhibition concludes with Krug and Nobre’s expectations (read the interview in this edition of Agência FAPESP) regarding COP30. They hope that the debates will advance from formal negotiations to effective actions, with developing countries playing a leading role.

The virtual exhibition “Science in the Amazon: history, challenges, and discoveries” can be viewed at centrodememoria.fapesp.br/exposicoes/ciencia-na-amazonia/.

 

Source: https://agencia.fapesp.br/56412