The assertion that the Amazon only became urbanized after Europeans invaded the region in the 15th century is part of an increasingly outdated imaginary. Recent discoveries in Ecuador, a South American country that shares part of the Amazonian territory with eight other nations, indicate that the forest has a history of organizations and urban development dating back more than 2,500 years. And this is not the oldest record.

Marajó island, located in the state of Pará, Northern Brazil, is part of the world’s largest fluviomarine archipelago, bathed by rivers and the Atlantic Ocean. With 16 municipalities and an area of approximately 50,000 km², the region is larger than Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo territories. The place’s stunning natural beauty attracts the attention of tourists from the country and abroad, who experience unique contact with the Amazonian nature. Marajó has three major attractions: its paradisiacal beaches, the remarkable presence of buffaloes, and rich handicraft production. In contrast to its abundance, the place is one of the poorest in the country, and tourism is seen as one of the most viable alternatives to promote development and generate prosperity for its population.

Turismo é opção de prosperidade para o deslumbrante Marajó

A ilha do Marajó, localizada no estado do Pará, Norte do Brasil, faz parte do maior arquipélago fluviomarítimo do mundo, banhado por rios e pelo oceano Atlântico. Com 16 municípios e área de aproximadamente 50 mil km², a região é maior que os territórios do Rio de Janeiro e do Espírito Santo. A deslumbrante beleza natural do local atrai a atenção de turistas do País e do exterior, que a experiência única do contato com a natureza amazônica. O Marajó tem três grandes atrativos: suas praias paradisíacas, a presença marcante dos búfalos e de um rico artesanato. Em contraste às suas abundâncias, o lugar é um dos mais pobres do País, e o turismo é visto como uma das alternativas mais viáveis para se promover o desenvolvimento e gerar prosperidade para a sua população.

Long distances, isolated areas, difficult access, precarious communication and legal gaps that still await the presence of security forces, justice and public authorities in a more effective way. This is the scenario found by the organized crime when it settles in the corners of the Amazon. And on the routes established for illegal activities, organized crime joins environmental crimes seeking ways to act where the State cannot easily reach. Due to these peculiarities, there is a consensus among state public security authorities that the combat actions in the Amazon region is different from that experienced in other parts of Brazil. The costs are infinitely higher and so are the operational difficulties. Even on different fronts, forces are increasingly seeking integration, whether at the state or federal level, to try to put together a strategy to combat crime in the largest region of Brazil. Security bases integrating different bodies, equipment and differentiated and advanced technologies are some of the measures adopted.

Brazil is the largest country in South America, with an impressive area of 8,514,004 km². This giant nation also covers the largest portion of one of the most important biomes on the planet: the Amazon. It covers 6.7 million km², 60.1% of which belongs to the Brazilian territory. All this geographic grandeur is, today, well delimited by 16,886 kilometers of borders. What few people know is that these limits represent the result of the work of men and women who ventured into the most challenging terrains to demarcate the national territory. It is the effort of the members of Primeira Comissão Demarcadora de Limites (PCDL) [First Limits Demarcation Commission]. PCDL is a body linked to the Ministério das Relações Exteriores (MRE) [Ministry of Foreign Affairs], headquartered in Belém, capital of Pará, created in 1928 to undertake the challenge of demarcating the borders in the North of Brazil.

LIBERAL AMAZON: Desbravadores desenharam Amazônia Brasileira

O Brasil é o maior país da América do Sul, com impressionantes 8.514.004 km². O gigante também abarca a maior porção de um dos biomas mais importantes do planeta: a Amazônia. São 6,7 milhões de km², sendo 60,1% pertencentes ao território brasileiro. Toda essa grandiosidade geográfica é, hoje, bem delimitada por 16.886 quilômetros de fronteiras. O que pouca gente sabe é que esses limites são fruto do trabalho de homens e mulheres que se aventuraram nos mais desafiadores terrenos para demarcar o território nacional. É o trabalho dos integrantes da Primeira Comissão Demarcadora de Limites (PCDL). A PCDL é um órgão ligado ao Ministério das Relações Exteriores (MRE), com sede em Belém, capital do Pará, criado em 1928 para empreender o desafio de demarcar as fronteiras ao Norte do Brasil.

Family production model becomes an alternative for sustainable development in the Amazon region

Putting a sustainable production model into practice, with the potential to feed the more than 1.3 million inhabitants of Belém, one of the main metropolises in the Amazon, has become a reality. Urban and peri-urban agriculture, carried out on the outskirts of cities, correspond to a set of techniques involving the cultivation of vegetables and fruits, and animal husbandry in large centers.

The practice has been developed around the world for several years. However, in the capital of Pará, researchers claim that the activity, which began to gain prominence from the 1970s onwards, has become a great ally in reducing the effects of climate change - in addition to contributing as an effective solution to combating food insecurity and the economic deficits found in the region.

Even though it generates renewable energy, Amazon region has almost a million people living without electricity.

If you are reading this article in the printed newspaper, under the light of a lamp, or in the digital version, on a computer screen, you are not part of the more than one million people in the Legal Amazon (1,154,916, in exact numbers) who do not have any access to electricity, according to data from the Ministry of Mines and Energy. In Pará, data shows that 709,196 people live under these conditions. To tackle the problem, a project proposed by the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) has been a real ‘light at the end of the tunnel’, providing clean energy to riverside communities near Belém. For at least six years, the project of “Grupo de Estudos e Desenvolvimento de Alternativas Energéticas” (Gedae) [Group of Study and Development of Energy Alternatives] at UFPA has been working on the capture, storage and distribution of photovoltaic energy on “Ilha das Onças”, a location that belongs to the municipality of Barcarena, in the Northeast of Pará state, and about 30 minutes from the capital by river. Most of the approximately 30,000 families living there do not have any access to electricity via public distribution system, and depend on private solutions to obtain energy, such as the use of diesel or gasoline generators. In addition to being expensive, these resources are polluters and can affect local biodiversit

UFRA researcher explains how ancient culture that gained strength in the hands of forest people can be a solution to challenges imposed by dietary restrictions in Brazil

Combining science and traditional knowledge, study fronts in Architecture, urbanism and other areas advance in the search for solutions for constructions and basic plans against historical problems in the region