The main objective of the BIOTA-FAPESP Program is to inventory and characterize Brazilian biodiversity, defining mechanisms for its conservation, economic potential and sustainable use.
The following list of objectives, means and products is not exhaustive, it is intended to point out general lines of action in the Program.
OBJECTIVES
- To study and learn about Brazilian biodiversity and disseminate this knowledge and its importance.
- To understand the processes that generate, maintain and impact biodiversity.
- To understand and respect traditional knowledge of biodiversity.
- Increase the capacity of public and private organizations to manage, monitor and use biodiversity.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of the conservation effort, identifying priority areas and components for conservation.
- Develop methodological bases and reference standards for environmental impact studies.
- Produce estimates of biodiversity loss at different spatial and temporal scales.
- To subsidize decision-making on development projects, especially those focused on sustainable development.
- Enable public and private organizations to benefit from the sustainable use of genetic resources.
- Enable the country to estimate the value of biodiversity and its services, such as conservation of water resources, biological control, pollination, etc.
- Build capacity of institutions to meet legal provisions and instruments regarding living organisms, such as the deposit of specimens.
MEANS AND PRODUCTS
- Consolidation of the infrastructure of collections in museums, herbariums, botanical gardens, zoos, germplasm banks, etc., bringing them up to international standards in terms of size of collection; quality of maintenance and organization; digitalization; curatorship; organization of exhibitions; dissemination and production of publications; designation of at least one reference collection for each group of organisms.
- Digitalization of all scientific collections, and establishment of an information network on biodiversity among all institutions involved with biodiversity research and conservation
- Adequacy and availability of cartographic and image bases to support biodiversity research.
- Consolidation of the infrastructure and support services for research in Protected Areas.
- Provide Protected Areas with the knowledge about biodiversity necessary for their adequate management.
- Production and dissemination of check-lists of all the known organisms
- Production of identification keys, catalogues and revision monographs, and their printed and/or electronic publication for the better known taxonomic groups.
- Evaluation of the representativity of the existing Protected Areas and identification of priority areas for the enlargement or establishment of new Protected Areas.
- Development of inventories and studies to fill taxonomic and geographic knowledge gaps about Brazilian biological diversity.
- Development of research projects to understand the spatial and temporal organization of biological diversity, and the processes that affect its maintenance.
- Development of comparative and retrospective studies to estimate losses of Brazilian biodiversity, both of species and of habitats and ecosystems.
- Development of special projects on perceived problems that affect the conservation of biodiversity, such as the effects and consequences of environmental fragmentation on biodiversity.
- Development of experimental and comparative projects on environmental impact, such as before-and-after, control, and impact studies; using them to monitor the consequences of development projects, and to establish benchmarks for assessing environmental impact on biological diversity.
- Development of bioprospecting pilot projects, interfacing with other programs with similar or related interests.
- Development of standards, routines and infrastructure to meet the demands of legal deposit of specimens.
- Increase the number of taxonomists according to the extent of Brazilian biodiversity and the growing demand for services.
- Training of human resources – high school and college level – in basic areas to support the study of biodiversity.
- Encouraging the development of professionals in new areas of knowledge or in new interfaces, such as bioinformatics or the application of geographic information systems to biology.
- Promotion of special intensive courses in taxonomy; in collection and inventory methods; in methods of analysis, etc.
- Increase in the number and adaptation of the duration of fellowships, especially those for technical support, recent doctorate and young researcher, according to the specific demand of the program.
- Increase the number of professionals hired at all levels in the research and teaching organizations as well as in Protected Areas.
- Establish institutional agreements and commitments that ensure the engagement and continuity of research projects, organization and maintenance of collections.
- Creating and setting up educational exhibits on biodiversity.
- Producing materials for dissemination and teaching support, such as field guides and identification guides.