Science Panel for the Amazon Holds the First Conference for the Amazon We Want in Belém
On March 8th, the Science Panel for the Amazon held its first Conference for the Amazon We Want (I Conferência por Uma Amazônia que Queremos, in Portuguese) in Belém, Brazil at the Maria Sylvia Nunes Theater. The event was attended by over 500 people, and included presentations, dialogue, and discussion in the agenda. Belém has recently made the official bid to host UNFCCC COP30 in 2025.
The Conference was co-hosted by the State Government of Pará and aimed to promote the dialogue between distinguished members of different sectors, including public policy formulators, academia, civil society, private and financial sectors, and representatives of the executive, legislative, judiciary, and prosecution, to stimulate the advancement of science and sustainable development in the Amazon.
During the conference, Governor of Pará Helder Barbalho expressed his gratitude to the SPA for choosing Belem to host this event, and for its role in advancing science, research, knowledge sharing, and discussions on sustainable solutions for the region. The Executive Secretary of Brazil’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, João Paulo Capobianco, highlighted the 2021 Amazon Assessment Report, and how it became a key reference on the Amazon. He also stated that the SPA was key in promoting science in Brazil for the past three years and that it has provided critical contributions to advance, synthesize, and disseminate research and knowledge.
This conference also benefited from a poster exhibition where graduate students from the Federal University of Pará, the largest university in the Amazon Region, and the Federal Rural University of Amazonia presented their ongoing research. You can rewatch the full conference on our youtube page.
After the conference, a 2.5-day SPA 2023-2025 Strategic Plan Workshop was organized with the Science Steering Committee and Lead Authors to set the stage for the years ahead and ensure that the SPA capitalizes on the amazing talent and achievements assembled in the Panel, including the launch of the landmark 2021 Amazon Assessment Report and the policy briefs published at COP27. This was the first in-person meeting since the COVID-19 pandemic began and the Panel viewed it as important to reconvene in person to push ahead the remarkable breakthroughs the Panel had made so far and advance SPA’s strategic plan for the next 3 years. The workshop was incredibly productive, with advancements made on many aspects pertaining to the Strategic Plan, including the topics of the upcoming policy briefs, governance structure, membership and authorship, stakeholder engagement, and communications strategy.
