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Author:
Vera Lucia Imperatriz Fonseca
The
Brazilian Pollinators Initiative (BPI) is under its first steps
of development. The initial discussions took place in October 1998,
at the "International Workshop on the Conservation and Sustainable
Use of Pollinators in Agriculture, with emphasis on Bees" held
at the University of São Paulo, promoted and organized by
the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment (MMA) in partnership with
the University of São Paulo (USP), the Brazilian Corporation
for Agriculture Research (EMBRAPA) and the Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO). Subsequent discussions on the BPI were held
during the "4th Brazilian Meeting on Bees" organized by
the University of São Paulo in September 2000. The BPI was
formally presented to the scientific community in the "5th
Brazilian Meeting on Bees" organized by S. Paulo University
in Ribeirão Preto, State of São Paulo, in September
2002. It assembled almost 300 Brazilian experts and exhibited over
200 papers.
BPI
is built upon several components, such as: an extensive network
of Brazilian experts on bee and pollination research, an extensive
network of beekeepers associations, a worldclass network of agricultural
research centers maintained by the Brazilian Corporation for Agriculture
Research (EMBRAPA), a 50-year track-record of excellence in research
and graduate education on bees at the University of São Paulo,
and also, a host of potential partnerships within governmental and
non-governmental organizations working towards agriculture sustainability
and biodiversity issues.
BPI
was planned to strengthen scientific and technological excellence
on pollinators, by means of an active network of a critical mass
of resources and expertise, all needed for a tropical leadership
in this area. BPI will generate knowledge on pollinators supporting
very good teams to work together, with the mission of spreading
excellence beyond the boundaries of its partnership. Training capabilities
using standard methodologies and network facilities will be essential
components of BPI.
BPI
will provide the necessary integration adopting reinforcement of
electronic information and communication networks to support interactive
working between the teams involved. Activities planned to spread
excellence are the following:
- A
joint programme for training researchers and other key staffs;
- Dissemination
and communication activities (including public awareness and understanding
of science);
- Promoting
the exploitation of the results generated within the network.
Presently,
a group of bee scientists and a policy-maker from the Brazilian
Ministry of Environment (Dr. Braulio F. S. Dias) are designing the
Brazilian Pollinators Initiative, in order to address the fragmentation
of Brazilian Research on the subject. This means that they are working
on the proposal to GEF, and including Pollinators in all ongoing
thematic areas available. They are not acting as "closed cubs",
but are working in a proposal where the access rights will be the
same for all participants; they are also overseeing the promotion
of gender equality within the network; finally, overseeing science
and society issues related to topics of the network.
Among
recent BPI achievements there are:
- The
São Paulo Declaration on Pollinators (http://www.biodiv.org/doc/ref/agr-pollinator-rpt.pdf),
precursor of International Pollinators Initiative, constituted
by COP5 in Nairobi, May 2000;
- A
symposium at the 4th Bee Meeting in Ribeirão Preto, State
of São Paulo, in September 2000;
- A
symposium at the 5th Bee Meeting in Ribeirão Preto, State
of São Paulo, in September 2002;
- The
publication of the book: Kevan, P. & Imperatriz-Fonseca,VL.
eds.2002 - Pollinating bees:
The conservation link between Agriculture and Nature, under the
financial support from MMA;
- The
publication in 2002 of the book Brazilian Bees, systematics and
identification by Fernando A. Silveira, Gabriel A. R. Melo, Eduardo
A. B. Almeida, also supported by MMA;
- The
workshop World Bees Checklist in the forum Trends and Development
in Biodiversity Informatics (http://www.cria.org.br/eventos/tdbi/wbcw).
- Organization
team: Mike Ruggiero, Vanderlei Canhos, Vera L. I. Fonseca, Fernando
Silveira. The workshop was highly successful as model for developing
a global species checklist. October 17th and 18th 2002;
-
As an outcome of the workshop, a proposal to support the development
of a Neotropical Bee Catalog was submitted to FINEP (Financiadora
de Estudos e Projetos) in Brazil, and has been recommended for
funding. (Gabriel Melo, Vanderlei Canhos, Fernando Silveira);
On-line list of bee species known to occur in Brazil. http://www.cria.org.br/db-list?bee
- Submission
to GBIF of a Brazilian proposal (Vanderlei Canhos, Fernando Silveira
and Gabriel Melo), untitled "New World Bee Catalog On-line",
selected as a pre-proposal for funding;
- Preparation
of additional workshops for 2003 (supported by FAO):
-
Assessment of the economic value of pollination services to
selected cash crops;
- Identification
of management practices contributing to pollinator decline,
and best management practices to counter this;
-
The BPI proposal was modified to be presented again to GEF in
May 2003.
BPI
Focal Points:
Braulio
Ferreira Souza Dias (MMA)
Afonso Candeira Valois (EMBRAPA)
Vera Lucia Imperatriz Fonseca (USP)
Lionel Segui Gonçalves (USP)
Marina Siqueira de Castro (Bahia Corporation for Agricultural Development)
Breno Freitas (Federal University of Ceara)
Fernando Silveira (Federal University of Minas Gerais)
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