University of São Paulo Emphasizes Amazon’s Importance at 76th SBPC Gathering
The Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC) and the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) are holding the 76th Annual Meeting of the SBPC with the theme Science for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future , from July 7 to 13. The meeting, which will feature several in-person and virtual activities — through the website portal.sbpcnet.org.br —, is open to the public, free of charge and aims to discuss the importance of science in solving society’s problems.
According to Renato Janine Ribeiro, a full professor at the School of Philosophy, Literature and Human Sciences (FFLCH) at the University of São Paulo, president of the SBPC and a columnist for Rádio USP, this year’s meeting will focus on the Amazon. “For us, it is very important to highlight the decisive role that the Amazon has for the world, especially to highlight the contribution of the peoples of the forest to its preservation. Research from recent years shows the intense work of indigenous peoples to preserve the Amazon and plan the forest. If we have an enormous wealth of products that can improve health, with new medicines and products to care for the body, we owe this in large part to the people who live there,” he comments.
Furthermore, the professor explains that one of the main issues will be carbon credits, since Brazil, like other countries with large forests, has a vast biodiversity, which helps to balance the planet by sequestering carbon produced especially by the richest countries historically. He adds: “If we want to avoid global warming, at the frightening scale that is being signaled, we must look very carefully at the Amazon.”
SBPC
Created in 1948, the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science has held annual meetings since the following year, sharing information from scientists in various fields for conversations among themselves and with the general public. Ribeiro explains that the SBPC meetings, which provide access to science, are very important for this audience — often made up of young students — since they can represent a change in their lives.
According to the professor, there is an important idea that science is also linked to democracy. “It is no coincidence that the military dictatorship wanted to prevent an annual meeting from being held, and it is no coincidence that the government before the current one denied science, even generating a much higher number of deaths than the proportion that occurred in the world due to COVID,” he adds. He also says that science is related to people’s well-being and quality of life, and is related to everything today.
Despite criticism of the previous government, Ribeiro says that the dialogue with the current government is good. “The budget of the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development, which is the main budget for demands and large resources for science, was restructured, and half of it is currently allocated to universities for well-evaluated research, requiring careful and demanding accountability, and the other half of this budget is going to loans to companies, on the condition that this research improves science and knowledge and also uses scientists. So, we have a very important factor in Brazil’s economic and social development,” he concludes.