Voices of Amazonia: knowledge co-production to enhance environmental policy and practices
Bringing together scientists, Indigenous leaderships and decision-makers to identify and prioritise the most pressing questions for biodiversity conservation in Amazonia, through knowledge co-production.
The challenge
Improved relations between evidence and policy are urgently needed to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises, arguably the 21st century’s greatest societal challenges.
Amazonian ecosystems are among Earth's most bio-culturally diverse and make invaluable contributions to climate change mitigation through carbon storage. Yet, multiple stressors threaten Amazonia’s socio-ecological resilience, highlighting the need for more coordinated, joined-up efforts between multiple actors to reduce these threats.
What we're doing
To inform efficient policies and practices that safeguard nature, we need knowledge co-production that brings diverse voices, combines multiple disciplines and aligns key scientific evidence with societal needs. This is particularly true for biodiversity conservation, but it is rarely done in Amazonia.
To address this science-policy gap, we will deliver a Science-Stakeholder workshop bringing together key scientists, Indigenous leaderships and decisionmakers to collaboratively identify and prioritise the most pressing questions for biodiversity conservation in Amazonia.
Our knowledge co-production approach will break down boundaries across disciplines and sectors to promote an atmosphere for collaboration among researchers, community leaders, policy and decisionmakers.
How it helps
Effective engagement with diverse voices can improve research development and conservation planning success.
We will engage with multiple actors to co-design a policy briefing focused on addressing stakeholder-relevant questions related to pressing environmental challenges faced by one of Earth’s most biodiverse regions.
We will also work together on a research grant application aiming to address some of the most pressing questions for Amazonian biodiversity conservation.
Investigators
- Dr Filipe Machado França, School of Biological Sciences
- Dr James Palmer, School of Geographical Sciences
- Dr James Ferreira Moura Junior, School of Biological Sciences
- Professor Sabina Ribeiro, Federal University of Acre, Brazil
- Professor Fernando Schimidt, Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Goiás
- Professor Leandro Juen, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Brazil
- Professor Thaísa Michelan, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Brazil
- Professor Juliana Schietti, Federal University of Amazona, Brazil
- Professor Fabrício Baccaro, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Brazil
- Dr Rafaella Maciel, Federal University of Lavras, Brazil
- Dr Lis Stegmann, Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Brazil
Lead researcher profile
Dr Filipe Machado França, School of Biological Sciences
Related research centres
Partner organisations
- Federal University of Acre, Brazil
- Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Goiás
- Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Brazil
- Federal Universityof Amazona, Brazil
- Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Brazil
- Federal Universityof Lavras, Brazil
- Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Brasil