The Tapajós region, in the Amazon, is known for being home to one of Brazil's greatest natural beauty attractions: Alter do Chão. However, the region located in the west of the state of Pará, whose capital Belém will host COP 30, is facing forest degradation, pressure from soybean growth and the effects of the severe drought that reached historic levels last year, affecting riverside populations.
Against this backdrop, this proposal aims to investigate how scientific innovation can help reduce climate risks, including the impacts of drought and high temperatures, which directly affect traditional communities and even community-based tourism activities.
The reporting will gather scientific data based on official monitoring instruments on the average temperature of recent years and its growth, as well as rainfall rates in the region and air quality. This will be the basis of the scientific survey to demonstrate the climate problem and challenge facing the region.
The reporting will highlight details of the processes and results of the project led by forestry engineer Lydiane Bastos, from the Federal University of Western Pará (UFOPA), which uses artificial intelligence to predict the viability of seeds from more than 200 Amazonian forest species.
Using X-ray and scanner images, scientists train algorithms to predict the germination capacity of seeds in seconds, which represents a fundamental technological advance for the ecological restoration production chain, especially in a context of drought, where the choice of quality and adapted seeds is crucial.
The project will follow the Solutions Journalism methodology, highlighting the impact of this technology on the communities that depend on collecting and selling seeds, and how it can contribute to forest recovery and mitigating the effects of drought. We will also use data journalism resources and methods to demonstrate the problem and the solution, using maps, tables, and infographics.
The project will be carried out by the Amazônia Vox team, which will have the following products: a multimedia publication on the website, with text, photos, and video, based on Solutions Journalism and data journalism; a mini-documentary of up to 15 minutes, broadcast on Youtube and other dissemination formats; a special newsletter for 4,000 subscribers; a series on social networks with content producers with a high audience and engagement; a policy brief aimed at public policy makers and entities related to the topic; an open online webinar with the researchers and journalists involved in the reporting; a face-to-face event in Santarém with university students and researchers; a media education workshop with a review of the reporting by teenage public school students; a solutions journalism and data journalism workshop for journalists and students, in Belém, based on the article as an example; and a narrative-descriptive podcast about the backstage of the reporting and the topic itself.
