Twenty projects aimed at expanding knowledge of Amazonian socio-biodiversity were selected, with a total value of approximately R$ 78.2 million
The Amazônia+10 Initiative announced today (10/4) the preliminary results of the research proposals approved in the Scientific Expeditions call, launched in November 2023 by the National Council of State Research Support Foundations (Confap) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). A total of 20 projects were selected—budgeted at approximately R$ 78.2 million—that will involve 77 research groups from 18 different Research Support Foundations (FAPs), along with foreign agencies like UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) from the United Kingdom and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) from Switzerland.
"We are very pleased with the success of the Expeditions call, both due to the highly qualified demand and the composition involving national and international partners," says Dalila Andrade Oliveira, the Director of Institutional, International Cooperation and Innovation at CNPq.
The call will support scientific expeditions that expand knowledge of Amazonian socio-biodiversity and biodiversity. The selected proposals aim to address two significant gaps in scientific knowledge about the region: one geographical and the other taxonomic. The projects will also expand research into the socio-cultural diversity of the traditional peoples and communities of the Amazon. Across the 20 projects, more than 61 locations, scarcely studied by the scientific community, will be explored, including Indigenous lands, sustainable development and extractive reserves, and other remote areas.
"The Amazon still holds many secrets that science needs to uncover! In this call, we will support projects that will shed more light on this biodiversity and its ancestral treasures. We hope that in the near future we will be able to better understand this fantastic region and contribute to its preservation and sustainable socioeconomic development," says Marcel Botelho, president of the Research Support Foundation of Pará (FAPESPA).
Each proposal is led by researchers from at least two FAPs or foreign agencies, one of whom must be affiliated with a higher education and/or research institution based in the states of the Brazilian Legal Amazon (Amazonas, Acre, Rondônia, Roraima, Pará, Maranhão, Amapá, Tocantins, and Mato Grosso). The call also required the participation of at least one member from PIQCT (Indigenous peoples, Quilombolas, and Traditional Communities) in the research team.
"We are in the final stretch of a successful process, the result of collaborative efforts from state research support foundations, educational and research institutions, researchers, and national and international funding agencies. The approved projects will enhance knowledge about Amazonian sociobiodiversity, with the involvement of local scientists, in partnership with other states and countries," comments Márcia Perales, president of the Amazonas State Research Support Foundation (FAPEAM).
The 20 approved projects will receive funding from the funding agencies (FAPs, CNPq, UKRI, and SNSF) for up to 36 months. Each proposal was evaluated by teams from all the participating states in the call—including the nine states of the Brazilian Legal Amazon, as well as Rio Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, Goiás, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Paraíba, Paraná, São Paulo, and the Federal District. Subsequently, a scientific panel, composed of researchers from various fields, assessed the proposals based on their scientific merit. Finally, the funding agencies met within the scope of the Amazônia+10 Initiative’s Coordinating Committee to determine the funding for each project, aiming to maximize the number of approved proposals.
support instruments for research on relevant topics for the region. I want to congratulate all the institutions, both national and international, involved. It was a complex but very stimulating task. In the following steps, we will have other initiatives that will undoubtedly contribute to advancing research on Amazonian topics and also help strengthen local institutions," says Carlos Américo Pacheco, president of the Technical-Administrative Council of the São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (FAPESP).
The call received 191 proposals in total—25% more than the number of projects submitted to the initiative's first call in 2022—spread across nine major areas of knowledge (Agricultural, Biological, Health, Exact and Earth Sciences, Humanities, Applied Social Sciences, Engineering, Linguistics, Literature and Arts, and others).
"This call reflects CONFAP's commitment to strengthening scientific research in the Amazon region, encouraging collaborative actions that contribute to sustainable development and the conservation of the biome. We believe that the expeditions resulting from this initiative will have a significant impact, providing new discoveries and innovative solutions to the challenges we face in the Amazon," summarizes Odir Dellagostin, president of CONFAP.
The final deadline for filing administrative appeals is 10/14. After that, the decision and final results will be published in the Federal Official Gazette and on the websites of the participating FAPs.
Check the preliminary list of approved proposals:
Voices of Indigenous Amazonia: Historical processes of socio-biodiversity in the face of Anthropocene challenges;
(UKRI-Brazil) Participatory monitoring of traditional territories: a digital co-production platform for socio-biodiversity data in Amazonian areas;
Inventory and documentation of the archaeological heritage of Roraima;
Tsiino Hiiwiida: Revealing multiple dimensions of plant and fungal biodiversity in the Upper Rio Negro;
Aruwê: Ancestral and scientific knowledge applied to environmental restoration and sustainable production in Teneterah land in the Amazonian Maranhão;
Use, conservation, and exchange of plants and knowledge among Indigenous peoples in Southeast Pará;
Brazil-UKRI: Restoring the adaptive capacity of pre-Colombian tree cultures to environmental changes;
Bioprospecting of Amazonian biodiversity in the Tembé community and its biotechnological potential in the context of sustainable development and environmental preservation;
AquaInvert-Amazonia: Integrating science and local knowledge to understand aquatic invertebrate biodiversity in high-altitude areas of the Amazon;
Ancestral paths: Biocultural heritage, collaborative research, and ethnoconservation in the socio-biodiversity corridor between the Xingu and Tapajós rivers;
Amazonian BioTechQuilombo - Amazonian Biodiversity, Technological Assessment, and Knowledge Exchange with Quilombos;
Geodiversity and Biodiversity of the Serra do Acaraí, Brazil-Guyana border;
Revealing the unknown: Epiphytes, insects, and fungi associated with floodplain tree flora in Eastern Amazonia;
Innovation in Water Monitoring in the Amazon: Cataloging and integrating field data with emerging technologies for water quality prediction in the Marajó Bay estuary, Pará;
Promoting Community Empowerment for the Sustainability of Amazonian Socio-Biodiversity: Experiences in the Guaporé (RO) and Jari (AP) valleys;
Ecology of Spirits: Traditional knowledge and conservation of socio-biodiversity in the Amazon;
New frontiers in the fossil record of Southwestern Amazonia;
Diversity of sandflies and Leishmania species in areas of the Gurupi Biological Reserve for the prevention and control of leishmaniasis in the Amazonian Maranhão;
Integral use of fruits and tubers from the Amazon Legal region – A strategy to promote the bioeconomy, recover customs, and reduce food insecurity among the original peoples of the state of Mato Grosso;
Socio-biodiversity: Analysis of zoonotic agents carried by game species in Western Amazonia