The proposal guarantees the performance of research, over the next ten years, on the Ice Continent
By Lieutenant-Captain (RM2-T) Camila Marques – Brasília, DFF
The Ten-Year Plan for Antarctic Science 2023-2032 of Brazil was launched this Monday (22), at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), in Brasília (DF). The document establishes the guidelines for Brazilian research in the Antarctic continent for the next decade.
The new Plan is the result of a working group, which consulted the scientific community and science and technology institutions. It is a national strategic planning instrument drawn up by the MCTI and the National Antarctic Research Committee (CONAPA), a collegiate body to guide, at the strategic level, the bodies and entities responsible for technical and scientific production in the Antarctic region and its connections with the Atlantic Ocean, South America and the Arctic.
The Plan has seven thematic axes that cut across distinct areas of scientific knowledge, attesting to the multidisciplinarity of the Brazilian Antarctic Program (PROANTAR). Thus, Brazil remains an active member of the Antarctic Treaty, producing relevant research on that region, an essential condition to maintain its status as a consultative member of the treaty and influence the future of Antarctica.
For the Secretary of the Interministerial Commission for Sea Resources, Rear-Admiral Marco Antônio Linhares Soares, the Plan came to provide predictability for Antarctic science over the next ten years. “The great importance of the Plan is to establish where we should deepen our research, following the guidelines of the International Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. The MCTI, with Minister Luciana Santos at the helm, devised, with remarkable care, the guidelines of the Plan, which will guide the scientific research activities under the Brazilian Antarctic Program,” he said.
Also announced was the public call for R$ 30 million, which will finance the next cycle of research, development and innovation in Antarctica. The amount is the largest ever recorded in 40 years of Brazilian research in the polar region and will soon be published.
PROANTAR
The Brazilian Antarctic Program (PROANTAR), which celebrated its 41st anniversary, aims to carry out scientific research in the Antarctic region in order to understand the phenomena that occur there and their influence on Brazilian territory. The program has three segments: the scientific one, under the responsibility of the MCTI and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development; the logistic one, under the responsibility of the Secretariat of the Interministerial Commission for Sea Resources; and the environmental segment, under the responsibility of PROANTAR’s Environmental Assessment Group, coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment.
The MCTI’s Antarctic Science Program aims to develop research of excellence about the Antarctic region and its connections with the Atlantic Ocean and South America, ensuring Brazil’s permanence as a consultative member of the Antarctic Treaty, which the country joined in 1975.
According to the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Luciana Santos, PROANTAR is an outstanding Program. “I cite here the laboratories at Comandante Ferraz Station, equipped to meet PROANTAR’s scientific agenda and the demands of the public call we launched today, ensuring research, development, and innovation activities for years to come,” she said.
Source: Marine News Agency