Amazon+10 Initiative issues first call for proposals

FAPESP and 19 other research foundations will invest BRL 50 million in collaborative science projects aiming at sustainable development in the Amazon.

Agência FAPESP – The Amazon+10 Initiative issued on June 24 its first call for proposals, pledging to support collaborative research projects oriented to biodiversity conservation, adaptation to climate change, protection of traditional peoples and communities, urban challenges, and the bioeconomy as contributions to economic development policy for the Amazon.

Initially comprising FAPESP and the nine states of the Brazilian Amazon region, for this first call the Amazon+10 Initiative involved the participation of public research funding agencies in 20 states: São Paulo, Amazonas, Rio de Janeiro, Pará, Paraná, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Rio Grande do Sul, Amapá, Federal District, Alagoas, Goiás, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Rondônia, Espírito Santo, Piauí, Santa Catarina, Acre, and Tocantins.

Created by FAPESP in November 2021, when it issued a communication announcing the mission and multilateral nature of the venture, the Amazon+10 Initiative is a science, technology and innovation (ST&I) development program involving partnerships with the National Council of State Government ST&I Departments (CONSECTI) and National Council of State Research Foundations (CONFAP). It is open to other state research funders and any institutions interested in participating in this call, provided they notify CONFAP of this interest by July 15.

“The purpose of Amazon+10 is to mobilize researchers throughout Brazil but especially in the Amazon to study and offer concrete solutions to the challenges to sustainable development in the Amazon, including alternative job creation and opportunities for income generation for the people who live in the region,” said Carlos Américo Pacheco, CEO of FAPESP.

The call requires proposals to focus on solutions considered indispensable to the advancement of sustainable development in the region, observing three priorities:

I. Territories with infrastructure and logistics that facilitate multiscale sustainable development 

II. Inhabitants of the Amazon as protagonists of biodiversity knowledge and valorization and of adaptation to climate change

III. Strengthening of sustainable supply chains by inhabitants of the Amazon

Proposals must have principal investigators from at least three of the states involved, and one of them must be affiliated with a higher education or research institution in one of the Amazon states. Each proposal must consist of a single research project drafted jointly by the applicants.

Principal investigators must submit proposals by August 10 to the research foundations in the states in question. 

Principal investigators will receive funding from the state research funder for their home state. The support from each foundation should not be necessarily equal but should reflect the needs and objectives of the research under the responsibility of the local team. Total funding will begin at BRL 300,000 (BRL 100,000 per state). Projects may last at most 36 months.

Projects will be selected by a panel of specialists in accordance with the criteria considered relevant by the Initiative, such as co-construction, interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity, innovation, impacts and sustainability, human resources in ST&I, communication, and a balance of projects across the priorities.

The total budget for the call exceeds BRL 50 million, and FAPESP has allocated BRL 30 million. Applicants must comply with the rules established by the different signatories involved with regard to eligibility, the scope of fundable items in the type of support valid for the call, and the total amount of funding available to support research projects.

The call notice is at: fapesp.br/15531.