Since its beginnings, PPGDSTU has sought to integrate itself in the social context of the Amazon region, contributing with research and extension. The Program develop projects and actions that seek to establish a dialogue with local population, making possible for them to appropriate of the practical results obtained and to be part of the knowledge production processes carried out by several program activities.
Reduction of Environmental Impacts in the Amazon
This research was developed by a student of the Program and consisted in the production of a sustainable Matapi. The Matapi is a cylindrical trap made with miriti splints that is used to catch shrimp, being quite common in the Amazon region. The proposal presented by the student was to assemble the cylinder with more separated splints, making possible the increase of the average size of the shrimp captured through the exit of the juvenile shrimps. This allows reducing the impact on recruitment. The objective of this work is to support legislation on shrimp fishing in the Amazonian estuary. It is co-directed by statistical biologist James Lee.
Preservation of cultural heritage
In Belém, Professor Silvio Figueiredo coordinates the Masters of Culture project that involves the community of the village of Icoaraci, in order to preserve the intangible cultural heritage of the place. The project is carried out with the support of popular culture groups and their leaders, and also counts on the participation of fellows of the Scientific Initiation Program (PIBIC), of the CNPq, in the Junior modality - aimed at young people who are attending high school. The initiative has already been awarded with the Rodrigo Melo Franco Andrade Award from the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN), in the category of Safeguarding Intangible Assets.
Interactions with the Basic Education
This is a new area for PPGDSTU, because only now NAEA is discussing with its professors the possibility of creating an undergraduate course that will effectively impact basic education, including in an interdisciplinary perspective. Some actions of projects and research and extension of teachers and students of PPGDSTU have interfaces with Basic Education. The MAÇAI project, coordinated by Professor Ligia Simonian, works in elementary schools (Tenente Rego Barros School), from the creation of the Açaí Club of Sciences. The project Mestres da Cultura (The memory in the speech of the masters of the culture of Icoaraci, PA), coordinated by Professor Silvio Figueiredo, has incorporated PIBIC junior scholarship holders and conducts awareness workshops in the public schools of the village of Icoaraci. The perspectives of scientific diffusion and community relations have produced booklets, videos and other materials that are disseminated in public schools in the state capital and interior. These proposals were intensified in 2017 with the "International Seminar on Latin America, Policies and Contemporary Conflicts", with action for public school teachers and students.