The Postgraduate Program in Tropical Biodiversity (PPGBIO) has Ecology as its sole area of focus, consisting of three basic lines of research: characterization of biodiversity, management and conservation of biodiversity, and sustainable use of biodiversity. These three lines of research form a continuum of scientific research topics, with the promotion of conservation and the sustainable use of tropical biodiversity in general, and Amazonian biodiversity in particular, as the main objective. Ecology is the science that integrates these three lines of research and serves as a conceptual reference for the development of interactions with other disciplines from the biological, exact and natural, and human sciences.

The Postgraduate Program in Tropical Biodiversity (PPGBIO), of UNIFAP, EMBRAPA-AP, IEPA, and CI-Brazil, combines the approaches of various disciplines from the exact, human and biological sciences to train highly qualified professionals, with a solid and multifaceted base of knowledge on the characterization, conservation, and use of tropical biodiversity.

The master’s is an academic master’s degree that aims to provide scientific training to holders of higher education qualifications, enabling them to conduct research and teach in the field of Tropical Biodiversity. The master’s enhances students’ basic theoretical and practical knowledge – essential for carrying out scientific activities – and develops critical mindset and rigor, through the thorough preparation of scientific publications, including the writing of dissertations and theses. The master’s degree must be completed in 24 months.

The doctorate provides a deeper understanding of scientific training and education, strengthening research potential and creative influence within the field of Tropical Biodiversity. Doctors of Tropical Biodiversity are expected to autonomously develop scientific research and carry out all of the functions inherent to such research, teaching or other activities related to the field of Tropical Biodiversity. The doctorate course must be completed in 48 months.

Despite the PPGBIO’s strong emphasis on the development of basic and innovative applied research, the postdoc professional will not be restricted to the academic sector – higher education institutions and research institutes – as is normally the case. Throughout the course, the PPGBIO student will be trained in a set of technical skills that will allow them to work in the business and non-governmental sector, assisting in the environmental management of industries of all kinds, in the development of conservation projects, and in the promotion of the sustainable use of biodiversity by society.

The Postgraduate Program in Tropical Biodiversity (PPGBIO) is the joint effort of UNIFAP, the Amapá Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (IEPA), Embrapa-Amapá and Conservation International. The main aim of the program is to train postdocs and provide them with a firm scientific background, in order for them to contribute to the great endeavor of promoting conservation and sustainable use of the extraordinary biodiversity that exists in Amapá and in the Amazon. The creation of a postgraduate program in tropical biodiversity was flagged as top priority in several of the inter-institutional meetings held in Amapá during the last three years, and its creation represents an important step towards providing Amapaense society with a center of excellence for research, management, and sustainable use of its extraordinary biodiversity.

Amapá is the most well preserved state in Brazil, with more than 90% of its natural ecosystems intact, its biodiversity is considered to be one of its most important natural resources for the promotion of social and economic development. Amapá is made up of 143,537 km², and, with extraordinary biodiversity, is home to an estimated 400,000 or more species, many of which are endemic. Amapá has almost all of the most important Brazilian ecosystems: mangroves, grasslands, campinas woodlands, cerrado savanna, upland terra firme forests, lowland várzea forests, and seasonal flooded igapó forests. Amapá’s biodiversity is well protected, as 55% of the state is covered by federal and state conservation units, or indigenous lands. These protected areas are managed in an integrated way with the non-protected areas, forming the Amapá Biodiversity Corridor, one of the most innovative biodiversity conservation proposals in the world, with a total of 11 million hectares, approximately 70% of the Amapá state. The heart of this corridor is formed by the largest park of tropical rainforests on the planet, the Tumucumaque Mountains National Park, made up of more than 3.8 million hectares. In addition, the Amapá Biodiversity Corridor includes the last large stretches of protected mangroves in the Americas, one of the most destroyed and unknown ecosystems in Brazil.

The PPGBIO was approved by CAPES in July 2006, and has already received a grade 4, an excellent evaluation score for a program that was recently created. The program’s high standard is comparable to that of the INPA Ecology Program (Manaus), one of the most traditional in the region that also received a grade 4 in the last CAPES evaluation. In national terms, for example, the Postgraduate Program in Ecology at the University of São Paulo received a grade 3. The goal of the PPGBIO is to become a program of international excellence in ecology, conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, within a span of six years. In order to achieve this goal, the Program Board works with a set of very ambitious goals and a rigorous evaluation process.

The creation of the PPGBIO is consistent with several Federal Government plans and policies, such as the National Biodiversity Policy, the National Plan for Protected Areas, and the Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Science and Technology for the Amazon, which, with some variations, aim to promote the training and establishment of qualified human resources in the states farthest from Brazil’s political decision-making center, such as Amapá. The PPGBIO also contributes to the obligations that the Brazilian government assumed with the Convention on Biological Diversity, as it aims, through research and concrete conservation actions, to significantly reduce pressure on Amapá species and ecosystems, in addition to promoting the sustainable use of the country’s biological resources. Lastly, the PPGBIO is fully consistent with the new National Postgraduate Plan (2005-2010), which aims to correct the existing asymmetries in the geographic distribution and qualification of postgraduate programs in Brazil, to test new models of association between institutions, for the creation and implementation of postgraduate programs, and train highly qualified professionals in strategic fields, such as ecology and biodiversity, to work in all sectors of society.

Amapá is the most well preserved state in Brazil, with more than 90% of its natural ecosystems intact, its biodiversity is considered to be one of its most important natural resources for the promotion of social and economic development. Amapá is made up of 143,537 km², and, with extraordinary biodiversity, is home to an estimated 400,000 or more species, many of which are endemic. Amapá has almost all of the most important Brazilian ecosystems: mangroves, grasslands, campinas woodlands, cerrado savanna, upland terra firme forests, lowland várzea forests, and seasonal flooded igapó forests. Amapá’s biodiversity is well protected, as 55% of the state is covered by federal and state conservation units, or indigenous lands. These protected areas are managed in an integrated way with the non-protected areas, forming the Amapá Biodiversity Corridor, one of the most innovative biodiversity conservation proposals in the world, with a total of 11 million hectares, approximately 70% of the Amapá state. The heart of this corridor is formed by the largest park of tropical rainforests on the planet, the Tumucumaque Mountains National Park, made up of more than 3.8 million hectares. In addition, the Amapá Biodiversity Corridor includes the last large stretches of protected mangroves in the Americas, one of the most destroyed and unknown ecosystems in Brazil.

The Amapá Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (IEPA) was established in 1993, from the merger of two pre-existing research institutions in Amapá: The Angêlo da Costa Lima Museum of Natural History, established in 1974, and the Waldemiro Gomes Museum of Medicinal Plants, created in 1982.

In 1980, Embrapa set up an initial center in Amapá, but in 1991 the center gained administrative autonomy and was renamed Embrapa Amapá.

Conservation International Brazil (CI-Brazil), was established in 1985, in Belo Horizonte, and today has a decentralized structure throughout Brazil, with offices in Belém, Brasilia, Campo Grande, Salvador and Belo Horizonte. CI-Brazil has been developing research and conservation actions in Amapá since 2003, and has already coordinated, together with IEPA, significant synthesis efforts on biodiversity throughout the Amapá Biodiversity Corridor.

From March to August 2003, several governmental and non-governmental organizations in Amapá discussed a social and economic development strategy based on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. This strategy was named the Amapá Biodiversity Corridor and was publicly announced by Governor Antônio Waldez Góes during the VII World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa. The launch attracted worldwide attention and consolidated this initiative as one of the most important for the conservation of biodiversity in the tropics.

From September 2003 to August 2005, meetings were held in Amapá in order to develop an integrated work plan for the implementation of the Amapá Biodiversity Corridor. One of the main recommendations that arose from these meetings was the creation of a postgraduate program in tropical biodiversity, to serve as a research and strategic thinking center, for the Amapá Biodiversity Corridor. It was suggested that the program should be based on Amapá’s research institutions, with the collaboration of out-of-state institutions.

From September to November 2005, the Department of Science and Technology (SETEC), formed a group to discuss the possibility of creating postgraduate programs and an integrated research system in the state of Amapá. CI-Brazil offered support to catalyze efforts to establish a postgraduate program in the field of ecology and environment, for the development of research throughout the Amapá Biodiversity Corridor.

In November 2005, Dr. Fábio Scarano, Representative of Ecology and Environment at CAPES, was invited by SETEC and CI-Brazil to visit Macapá and to carry out an analysis of the institutions, the available infrastructure, and the Doctors’ technical expertise. Dr. Scarano recommended an integrated effort between UNIFAP, IEPA, Embrapa Amapá and Conservation International to prepare a proposal for a complete postgraduate program (master’s and doctorate), in Ecology and Environment.

SETEC coordinated a team of researchers from UNIFAP, IEPA, Embrapa Amapá, and CI-Brazil to prepare the proposal. The program structure, the rules of procedure and the terms of collaboration between the institutions, for the implementation of the Postgraduate Program in Tropical Biodiversity (PPGBIO), were elaborated and widely discussed. The team worked from December 2005 to March 2006 to compose the proposal presented here.

The PPGBIO was officially approved by CAPES Technical Scientific Committee, on July 13, 2006.

The PPGBIO is located in Block T on the Marco Zero Campus, at the Federal University of Amapá. We are only 20 minutes away from the Macapá International Airport and a 2 minute walk from the Marco Zero monument, which marks the passage of the Equator Line.

Through partnership with EMBRAPA-AP, the Amapá Institute of Scientific and Technological Research, and Conservation International, PPGBIO students have wide access to laboratories, instruments and the equipment necessary to carry out their postgraduate related research.

At UNIFAP, the PPGBIO has its own building with the following facilities for students, teachers and visiting researchers:

• • Secretariat and Administration room, open and running every day during business hours.
• • Two classrooms equipped with data show projectors and projection screens.
• • A computer room equipped with 19 all-in-one networked computers, data show projector and interactive whiteboard.
• • A room for visiting professors and postdocs.
• • Bathrooms.
• • Internet.

PPGBIO students can also use all infrastructure available at UNIFAP, including the university restaurant, research centers (Centro de Estudos da Amazônia), Central Library, Postgraduate Library, computer rooms with networked computers, gym, and swimming pool, among other facilities.

PPGBIO Building (external view)

PPGBIO Building (internal view)

Classroom with data show projector and projection screen

Computer room equipped with 19 all-in-one networked computers, data show projector and interactive whiteboard

PPGBIO Secretariat

PPGBIO Administration Room

UNIFAP University Restaurant

UNIFAP Multi-Sport Gym

UNIFAP Swimming Pool