Raquel Silva and Ricardo Oliveira recently participated in the AtlantECO General Assembly, which took place from October 3rd to 9th in Florianopolis, Brazil. AtlantECO is a Horizon 2020 project initiated in 2020 and set to continue until 2025. The primary objective of this project is to study the Atlantic microbiome, plastic and plastisphere, and seascape and connectivity. This is achieved by implementing an innovative, unified framework that offers knowledge-based resources to enhance our understanding and management of the Atlantic Ocean.
During this year’s General Assembly and Annual Consortium Meeting, updates and progress from each Work Package (WP) were shared with the project partners. Additionally, there was a joint session with the sister project, Mission Atlantic, and a policy event for stakeholders at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC). Other concurrent sessions focused on ecosystem services, plastics, and plastisphere, as well as planning for activities in Brazil and South Africa for the next 24 months, among many other topics. The event counted with a poster session facilitated by Early-Stage Researchers involved in these activities.
Raquel Silva presented SPI’s contribution to WP10 activities under the title “Policy briefs enhancing cooperation in the Atlantic basin,” and Ricardo Oliveira co-chaired the session titled “Recommendations for an effective All-Atlantic cooperation: AtlantECO policy brief” alongside Hugo Sarmento from Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFScar). This co-chairing facilitated a meaningful discussion on the next steps in placing the Atlantic Ocean ecosystems at the core of European, Brazilian, and South African political agendas.
We express our gratitude to all our partners for engaging in these insightful and enriching discussions while looking forward to continuing to work to contribute to the creation of better policies and regulations at the National, European and International scale enhancing Ocean Science and promoting an all-Atlantic cooperation.
