Forests

Brazil has the second largest forest cover in the world, after Russia, and Brazil has the largest continuous extension of rainforest in the world.

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• Brazil is seeking solutions for sustainable development in the Amazon

Given this, since 2006 the country has had the Brazilian Forest Service, a system that organizes and stores a comprehensive database, with statistics, technical data, and so on.

The system also holds theses and dissertations produced by 21 graduate programs in Forestry Engineering and Forest Sciences at several educational institutions throughout Brazil, as well as scientific journals related to Brazilian forests.

Embrapa Forests is also responsible for research and the development of technology focused on increasing the supply of forest and agricultural products on the market while conserving the environment.

The Amazon forest produces a large volume of specific scientific output. After all, it is the largest rainforest in the world, accounting for about 30% of all the world's forests.

Amazonian vegetation is the most diverse of any continent, with over 45,000 species of plants and animals. The Amazon region covers 60% of Brazil and includes the states of Amazonas, Acre, Amapá, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Rondônia, Pará, Roraima and Tocantins.

According to Niro Higuchi, a researcher at INPA (National Institute for Amazonian Research) and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, the federal government invests in research in the Amazon in order to find sustainable solutions for the forest and its communities.

For the researcher, the studies done on the Amazon are very recent. "We found a tree that was 1,748 years old, and the first research in the area began just 34 years ago," he says.

The Brazilian government runs several initiatives to stimulate sustainable development, reduce deforestation and reduce greenhouse gases that directly affect the country's forests.

Considered the largest scientific experiment in environmental enforcement in Brazil, the LBA Program (the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia), at INPA, involves over 1,100 researchers and students and has produced over 2,300 published papers and theses. The goal is to contribute to a better understanding of how ecosystems work and the impact that changes in the soil cause on biomes.

Sources:

Environment Ministry
Brazilian Forestry Service
Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation
INPA (National Institute for Amazonian Research)
LBA (the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia)
Embrapa Forests