Countries agree to redouble their efforts to consolidate the Amazon Regional Observatory

Iquitos (Peru), 11/28/2017. Considering that the exchange of information between the countries and the generation of knowledge about the Amazon are strategic components for the development of the region in its different areas, representatives of the Member Countries of the Organization of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty (ACTO), participated of the Regional Meeting of the Amazon Regional Observatory (ORA) and the Network of Amazon Research Centers (RedCIA), at the Peruvian Amazon Research Institute (IIAP), in the department of Loreto, heart of the Peruvian Amazon.

In the event, management mechanisms for the ORA and RedCIA were defined, a Research Agenda was drawn up, and actions to strengthen human talent for the Amazon Region were identified; as well as guidelines and orientations for the development of the computer platform that will house the ORA.
These agreements allow to have precise guidelines, with defined deadlines and responsible parties, so that in the first semester of 2018 the Observatory starts operating in its first phase. It is also expected to consolidate the actions of the Network of researchers, to provide solutions or generate knowledge on common problems in the Amazon, on CITES and Biodiversity, Forests and Water Resources, as the first priority issues.

Likewise, the formation of the Steering Committee was formalized, the body that will lead the actions of the Observatory and the Network. Likewise, its operating regulations were approved, which is represented by a delegate from each of the 8 Member Countries, and which also has groups work technicians who will support and advise the Steering Committee.
The Meeting ended with a visit by the delegates to the facilities of the Fernando Alcántara Research Center dependent on the IIAP, and its food science, biotechnology and genetics, and fish reproduction laboratories. Subsequently, the potentialities of the Amazonian Supercomputer were known, a technological infrastructure that performs storage and processing functions of data from a network of sensors and complements them with information from other sources, which process data packages related to the geospatial analysis of the Amazonian territory and develop models or numerical simulations.

The Amazon Regional Observatory (ORA), is constituted as a permanent virtual forum, through the OTCA website, which promotes the flow of information between institutions and intergovernmental authorities of the Member Countries, linked to the study of the Amazon, constituting in a reference center for regional scientific-technological information and socio-cultural diversity of the Amazon.

The Network of Amazon Research Centers (RedCIA) will be made up of institutions, universities or other forms of organization dedicated to the generation and management of knowledge, to promote cooperation in scientific research among the Member Countries.

Reference Source: OTCA