Area of investment and support

Area of investment and support: Amazon +10 Initiative: research expeditions to the Amazon

Five projects are funded through this investment, part of the Brazilian-led Amazon+10 Initiative aiming to support research and technological development in Brazilian Legal Amazonia.

Budget:
The total UK budget for this programme is £4.25 million
Duration:
This is a single UKRI funding opportunity (closed April 2024) and research activity runs from 2025 to 2028
Partners involved:
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC, lead), Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Brazil National Council of State Foundations for Research Support (CONFAP), Brazil National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)

The scope and what we're doing

The UKRI Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) are funding the research investment Amazon +10 initiative: research expeditions to the Amazon, within the Brazilian-led Amazon+10 Initiative.

The Amazon+10 Initiative aims to support research and technological development in Brazilian Legal Amazonia, focusing on a deeper understanding of nature-society interactions for sustainable and inclusive development in the region. The initiative is led by partners in Brazil: the National Council of State Foundations for Research Support (CONFAP), with the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

The priority themes of the ‘Amazon +10 initiative: research expeditions to the Amazon’ investment are:

  • understanding habitats and their species
  • study biodiversity as a source of livelihood and potential for bioeconomy
  • conservation and restoration of natural capital
  • studies of the tangible and intangible heritage of ancestral, indigenous and traditional peoples of the Amazon and their associated knowledge systems
  • documentation and conservation of Amazonian indigenous languages and associated knowledge systems
  • studies on sustainable use of natural resources, institutional arrangements for conservation, and territorial dynamics of indigenous and traditional communities
  • integration of field data with emerging technologies

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has funded these projects through the UK International Science Partnerships Fund, and all funded projects will contribute to the UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitment to promote the economic development and welfare of people in Brazil.

All research teams include at least one member who has traditional knowledge related to the relevant Legal Amazon territory, referred to as PIQCT (the Portuguese acronym for indigenous peoples, quilombolas, and traditional communities).

The objectives of ‘Amazon + 10: research expeditions to the Amazon’ are to:

  • support the organisation of scientific expeditions aimed at expanding our knowledge about biodiversity or socio-cultural diversity in the Amazon
  • build institutional research partnerships between organisations in the Amazon and outside the region, and connect researchers with different affiliations
  • foster the strengthening of local research infrastructure and training of professionals in taxonomy, systematics, museology and ethnobiology, under the coordination of teams based in the Amazon
  • encourage scientific research in remote and understudied parts of the Amazon
  • encourage scientific research that proposes ways to surmount the challenges of studying less well-known and less studied taxonomic groups
  • encourage co-creation of applications with traditional knowledge holders from local indigenous peoples, quilombolas, and communities living along rivers
  • promote activities involving education, popularisation and scientific diffusion to different kinds of audience in all sectors of society, and involving specialists, groups and institutions engaged in formal and non-formal education (for example schools, extension units, museums, science centres, zoos, botanic gardens, aquariums, conservation unit visitor centres and non-governmental organisations)

Why we're doing it

The Amazon is world-famous for its outstanding biodiversity, with genetic resources still largely unmapped. The collection of scientific data and materials, biological and mineral specimens, objects belonging to Indigenous and popular culture, present and past, and the traditional knowledge associated with them can enable a better use of the region’s substantial natural and social resources in the future.

Who to contact

Ask a question about this area of investment

Lucy Hopewell, email: ISPF-Brazil@nerc.ukri.org

Last updated: 20 December 2024

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