The PPBio and Biological Collections in Amazonia

In 2004, as part of an initiative by the Ministry of Science and Technology, two Amazon-based research institutions Belem’s Goeldi Museum (MPEG) and the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA) in Manaus put together the Program for Research on Biodiversity (PPBio) whose mission was to develop a strategy to:

1) invest in science and technology,

2) prioritize and integrate skills in research,

3) share biodiversity knowledge,

4) generate, integrate and disseminate information that can be used for different purposes, 

5) make the management of natural resources easier,

6) reinforce research into the sustainable development of the Amazon.

Given that:

a) there is an increasing demand for accurate and reliable information by biodiversity researchers and

b) well ordered collections where the material is properly prepared, stored, maintained and identified are important research resources.

One aim of this strategy is to:

 - use the combined regional expertise of research networks to plan and conduct inventories and integrate the information that is contained in the biological collections distributed throughout the region.