Why Create the Mangrove Observatory?

Lack of contextualized information about each of their different targets is a relevant gap related to the SDGs, especially in large, protected areas, such as a Marine Extractive Reserve (MER). That's why the “Mangrove Observatory” was created, in order to research collaboratively with the communities through their observation, communication, recording, and monitoring capacity. The observatory was designed to address socio-environmental issues on mangrove ecosystem and utilize the SDG targets based on citizen science (collaborative GIS). Furthermore, the observatory fills a gap that is to produce the storage of information on the socio-environmental issues of the Amazonian mangroves, one of the largest areas of this ecosystem in the world. The Mangrove Observatory will support the strengthening of environmental and climate governance in the process of mangrove conservation and sustainable development of the “mangrove civilization”.

What is the Mangrove Observatory for?

The “Mangrove Observatory” is a challenge for democratizing information through Mangrove Data Science, whose main function is to systematize and generate information to support the most different actions/interventions for the conservation of the Amazonian mangroves. Thus, three specific objectives were formulated, based on the triad: i) collaborative science “Mangrove Observers” - diagnosing the community realities to plan the contextualization of the SDGs, ii) environmental journalism with "Mangrove Reporters" - connecting experiences through education, and iii) popularization "Mangrove Nuances" - popularizing scientific information to promote Mangrove Literacy and Sustainability Literacy. The products of this proposal will be the basis for the creation of a "Mangrove Citizen Laboratory", a replicable methodology for other countries that have mangroves, mainly in South America.