AmazonFACE is like a "time machine" that transports Amazon into the future. The project simulates the effects of climate change by increasing CO2 levels to predict how the forest will react in the future and its ability to adapt to global warming. The initiative is from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Brasil and was presented to the representatives of the G20 countries.
Traveling into the future in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest. This is the proposal of the AmazonFACE scientific program, led by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Brasil (MCTI). Furthermore, it was presented to the representatives of the G20 countries during a technical and ministerial meeting of the Research and Innovation Working Group in Manaus, the capital of Amazonas. Participants from 27 countries had the opportunity to learn about a cutting-edge Brazilian experiment that seeks to understand how the Amazon reacts to climate change.
During the visit to the site, about 80 kilometers from Manaus, the group learned about the project's infrastructure, which involves six metal rings, each 30 meters in diameter, composed of 16 towers, each 35 meters high. AmazonFACE aims to simulate a 50% increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, compared to current levels, using FACE technology (Free Air CO2 Enrichment). The project is unique in the world. It is the first time that CO2 enrichment technology will be applied in a tropical forest. The data obtained will be essential to predict how the Amazon will respond to climate change and to guide global policies on the subject.
Amid wildfires and climate crises worldwide, the Amazon Rainforest remains at the center of international debates during the G20, as highlighted by Brasil's Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Luciana Santos. "We are experiencing this process of wildfires, which only reaffirms that this is not a matter of the future, but of the present," said the minister, stressing the need to include science and technology in the service of diagnostics and solutions for climate issues. "The research aims to anticipate the effects of the increase in CO2 and its consequences for the region's ecosystem, enabling evidence-based decisions to be made," she added.
Carlos Alberto Quesada, a Brazilian scientist involved in the AmazonFACE project, also highlighted the role of science in understanding climate change and its implications for the Amazon. "The forecast is that the region will become hotter and drier in the future, which could transform the forest into savannah," he explained. Regarding the G20, the scientist emphasized that the wealthiest countries, the most significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, must make a genuine commitment to change the course of the climate's future. "It is extremely important that the world's largest economies, meeting in the G20, seriously discuss climate change," he said.
AmazonFACE aims to simulate a 50% increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, compared to current levels, using FACE technology (Free Air CO2 Enrichment). The project is unique in the world. It is the first time that CO2 enrichment technology will be applied in a tropical forest. The data obtained will be essential to predict how the Amazon will respond to climate change and to guide global policies on the subject.
International partnerships strengthen the project
Since 2021, the AmazonFACE project has received financial support from the United Kingdom through The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), which has already invested about 7.3 million pounds (equivalent to 53.29 million reais). During the visit, Charlotte Watts, FCDO's chief scientific advisor, highlighted the scientific cooperation between the two countries: "The Brasil-United Kingdom partnership is exceptional. I'm astonished by the project. It is inspiring to see how science is being used to understand the impact of CO2 increase in the Amazon rainforest," she reported.
Watts also reinforced the importance of the international community coming together to tackle climate change. "If we do not understand how forests adapt to change, we will not be able to set the necessary global goals," she concluded.
The project also involves an international team of scientists, including researchers from the Brazilian National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA) and the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), and a collaboration with the UK Met Office. Research on the Amazon Rainforest focuses on carbon, water, and nutrient cycles, as well as socioeconomic aspects, such as impacts on forest residents and food security.
The second phase of AmazonFACE, which will extend from 2025 to 2030, will be based on the recently launched Scientific Plan. The Brazilian government is allocating 32 million BRL through the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FNDCT) for this new phase. The program began in 2014 and represents one of the most ambitious research initiatives to understand the future of the world's largest rainforest.
