Strategic partnership will generate the operation of a booth, sectoral meetings and technical lectures throughout the Conference in Belém

"It is not possible to preserve the Amazon and other biomes in the world without intelligence, without education and scientific research for technological innovations to then, in fact, enable sustainable development."

"To avoid global warming and other challenges we face, all of this requires intelligence. Police power is important in the case of illegal activities, but if you don't use intelligence, the capabilities of our universities and research institutes, INPA, Goeldi, Mamirauá, the Evandro Chagas Institute, and others, you won't have more comprehensive actions. Resources aimed at environmental preservation and sustainable development should be invested in intelligence, in Science & Technology," said Professor José Seixas Lourenço, pro tempore president of the Association of Amazonian Universities (Unamaz) and CEO of Bio Tec-Amazônia, a research center related to the bioeconomy in the Amazon, at the opening of the 30th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 30) in Belém.

This statement by the educator, who has worked for 53 years in the fields of education and the environment, is supported by the Unamaz and Bio Tec-Amazônia program at the Conference, through a stand in the Greenzone of Parque da Cidade and the participation of Seixas Lourenço himself in the COP 30 events, from the 10th to the 21st of this month.
Unamaz is a network of universities, research institutes
and Third Sector institutions from the eight countries of the Amazon Basin: Brazil (through the Brazilian Amazon), Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname, also incorporating institutions from French Guiana. In the first week of COP 30, Unamaz will sign a cooperation agreement with the University of French Guiana.
Unamaz's participation in the Conference, as Seixas Lourenço explains, presents itself as "a unique opportunity for cooperation between institutions, because this event, the Conference, is held in the Amazon, and moreover, in Belém, where Unamaz originated". While still rector of the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), he created Unamaz in September 1987.
In the process of bringing Amazonian universities closer together in a new moment of proposals and actions for the region, Unamaz received the support of the Amazon Summit, held in Belém, at the Hangar - Convention Center, in August 2023. On that occasion, the leaders of the Amazonian countries recommended the revitalization of this knowledge network.

Created in 2016 from a call for proposals from the Government of Pará in order to manage a public policy for research and development of biodiversity production chains, Bio Tec-Amazônia has gradually consolidated itself in the Brazilian productive scenario, mobilizing public and private resources. This Social Organization has built a network of expertise - today it has 65 researchers and entrepreneurs working in various production chains, including açaí, cocoa and others.
"The biggest breakthrough was becoming a reference in product traceability and certification. It is the only institution in Brazil registered with the INPI (National Institute of Industrial Property, which does traceability by DNA) and the only institution recognized by the European Community," emphasizes Seixas Lourenço, CEO of Bio Tec-Amazônia.

Partnerships
Unamaz and Bio Tec-Amazônia will maintain a joint stand at COP 30 and, this Monday morning (10), the Association of Amazonian Universities will present the Strategic Agenda 2025-2030. This Agenda brings together projects forwarded in pan-Amazonian cooperation. There are around 85 institutions mobilized in a network, including 30 from the Brazilian Amazon, with the Federal University of Western Pará (Ufopa) in the temporary presidency of the Association. The universities participate in COP 30 in person and through videoconferences.

In the afternoon, Bio Tec-Amazônia will present its advances in the field of bioeconomy. At the beginning of the evening of this Monday (10), the Minister of Integration and Regional Development, Waldez Góes, will be at the Unamaz/Bio Tec-Amazônia stand. The minister will learn about the results of technological research developed in partnership with the Ministry, such as the cocoa production chain, in the Medicilândia region (PA).

During this program, Bio Tec-Amazônia will present two projects on the traceability of gold and meat, two crucial production chains in the process of environmental depredation in the Amazon (deforestation, illegal mining, including that related to drug trafficking, as Seixas Lourenço has been denouncing).