Our Vessel
Get to know the INCT on Biodiversity of the Blue Amazon.
Presentation
The National Science and Technology Institute on Biodiversity of the Blue Amazon (INCT da Biodiversidade da Amazônia Azul, in Portuguese) began its activities in 2023 under the coordination of professors Eduardo Resende Secchi (Federal University of Rio Grande, FURG) and Beatrice Padovani Ferreira (Federal University of Pernambuco, UFPE).
The INCT team is working on research into the biological diversity of the Blue Amazon in an integrated and multidisciplinary manner. This work is important because the ocean and its ecosystems encompass an immense biodiversity that has not been fully mapped, quantified and sustainably exploited.
With the advance of climate change, a major effort is needed to understand the interactions between biodiversity and the environment. The studies will make it possible to understand the effects of these changes, the impacts of human beings on the ocean and to produce strategies for the conservation of marine life and its biotechnological potential. In addition, an unprecedented database will be built, enabling advances to be made on the biodiversity of the Blue Amazon.
Find below our Executive Summary in both Portuguese and English.
About the Blue Amazon
The creation of the term "Blue Amazon" was inspired by the Amazon, famous for its biodiversity and the largest rainforest in the world, located in the north and north-west of Brazil and also part of other South American countries. The term was registered by the Brazilian Navy in 2011 with the main aim of arousing curiosity about the sea.
The Blue Amazon is an area of the Atlantic Ocean that covers 8,500 kilometres of the Brazilian coastline. It is the sum of the entire exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which covers 3.6 million square kilometres, and the continental shelf, which covers more than 2 million square kilometres. This totals 5.7 million km². This marine space is equivalent to half of Brazil's land territory, with a size and biodiversity similar to that of the Green Amazon.