Drones for the conservation of Cerrado biodiversity in the Maranhão
Drones monitor the biodiversity of the Cerrado biome in protected areas in Maranhão.
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Sargax Project
Sargax Project monitors and values Sargassum algae in Maranhão, promoting the involvement of local communities and seeking new sources of income.
Overview
This research project is an international collaboration that aims to monitor the dynamics of Sargassum rafts in Maranhão, besides developing predictive tools to anticipate the beaching events, value biomass and sharing information with local communities in order to mitigate the impacts of this phenomena and provide alternative a source of income.
The blooms Sargassum are the largest in the world, but there is still few information about their effects on local fishing and the possibilities of transform its biomass before it rots.
Our Effort
To achieve these objectives, we are monitoring the rafts of Sargassum in Maranhão, via satellite as well as conecting stakeholders like fisherman communities, environmental agencies and universities. We intend to transfer all knowledge to the communities that are already threatned by other issues related to climate change as well land, race and gender conflicts. We are working in collaboration with the French Embassy, ICMBio, City Hall of Carutapera – MA, USP, UFSC, UFPA, and Inova Drones to ensure the success of the project.
Results
We have already identified at least 4 other sites where Sargassum beaching events along the 640km of coast at Maranhao State. We also estimated that at least 250 tons of biomass accumulated during the beaching event in 2021 in Carutapera, Ma. We are now developing a training program to allow fisherman and woman to mitigate this impact in their own territory. We have established partnerships with several institutions in Brazil and abroad in order to gather knowledge and financing to our own goals.
We hope to provide more accurate information on the dynamics of Sargassum rafts in Maranhão, as well as to provide efficient mitigation strategies for municipalities representant and also to local communities. We think that this problem demands the development of specific public policies as well a new industry to process this huge biomass. We are sure that this work will contribute to the economic development of local communities and the conservation of the environment.
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Productive chain of natural products from Maranhão
Partnership aims to identify and develop the productive chain of natural products from the flora of Maranhão.
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