The Amazon Week 2024 will take place in Brussels, organized and hosted by the Mission of Brazil to the EU and the Embassy of Brazil in Belgium and Luxembourg, by Itamaraty and APEX Brazil, during the week of 23 September 2024.
A series of multidisciplinary and multistakeholder events will show the economic, environmental, social, cultural and gastronomic dimensions of one of the most fascinating regions in the world, the Amazon.
Among the varied events there will be two discussion sessions:
- 25 September: ST&I and Sustainable Finance as Core Pillars for Bioeconomy in the Amazon, with RTD.B Director John Bell as keynote speaker. Bioeconomy is at the core of this STI panel.
- 26 September : Challenges & Opportunities for Amazon Sociobioeconomy Products in EU Markets.
- international cooperation | bioeconomy
- Friday 6 September 2024, 21:00 - Thursday 10 October 2024, 17:00 (CEST)
- Brussels, Belgium
Practical information
- When
- Friday 6 September 2024, 21:00 - Thursday 10 October 2024, 17:00 (CEST)
- Where
- BrusselsBrussels, Belgium
- Languages
- English
Description
Background
The Amazon region (encompassing Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, French Guiana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela) plays a vital role in global climate stability, as it contains 40% of the remaining tropical forests and shelters 25% of the planet’s terrestrial and aquatic biological diversity (10% in the Amazon Forest and 15% in the aquatic river system). The 8 Amazon countries signed in 1978 the Amazon Cooperation Treaty, and in 1995 these countries established the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization.
Scientists from Europe have cooperated for many years with their Brazilian, Colombian, Peruvian and other Amazon country partners to tackle the challenges of environmental protection and the opportunities presented by Amazon. The Amazonia+ Programme, funded by the European Union and launched in 2023, aims to bolster the capabilities of Amazonian governments and communities to reduce and prevent deforestation through strengthened regional cooperation. An example is the Group of Experts on Forest Fires in Latin America and the Caribbean (GEFF LAC) led by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission which supports regional collaboration and fire-related policy development through harmonisation and exchanges (see also GWIS - Support to Wildfire Management in LAC.)
EU Research and Innovation Programmes, namely Horizon 2020 (2014-2020) and Horizon Europe (2021-2027), have paved the way to rich scientific cooperation on the Amazon, which continues to evolve. It has been developed through Marie Skłodowska-Curie research and mobility Actions, the cutting-edge research of the European Research Council, and the collaborative research and innovation projects of leading scientific consortia under Pillar II of Horizon Europe, tackling major societal and global challenges. For example, in the area of Bioeconomy, for which the European Commission has a dedicated Bioeconomy Strategy since 2012 a myriad of EU-funded projects relate to the Amazon, ranging from forest-based cultural products to aquatic microbiomes.
Download a selection of on-going and recent research and innovation projects related to the Amazon:
