Globo Amazônia

COP-15, CopenhagenDecember 2009

1. What is Globo Amazônia?

a) A project by TV Globo, the largest network in Brazil

b) Inspired by Berkeley University’s SETI@HOME

c) Website: www.globoamazonia.com

d) Social network application for Orkut (Amazônia.vc)

e) A series of television news stories broadcast by TV Globo

2. How does it work?

a) Data comes from Inpe (Brazilian Institute for Space Research)

b) Map is updated:i. up to 6 times a day with information on forest firesii. data comes from Inpe’s Fire Monitoring System

b) Map is updated:i. up to 6 times a day with information on forest firesii. data comes from Inpe’s Fire Monitoring System

b) Map is updated:iii. once a month with consolidated data about deforestationiv. data comes from Inpe’s System of Deforestation in Real Time

b) Map is updated:iii. once a month with consolidated data about deforestationiv. data comes from Inpe’s System of Deforestation in Real Time

c) Map is also updated:i. daily with links to geotagged news and videos about the area

d) Globo’s “mash-up” puts together news plus Inpe’s data over a Google map, and adds the possibility of interaction

e) Users can watch every point of forest activity and make a virtual protest through our application at Orkut

e) Users can also send photos, videos, and e-mails denouncing irregular activities they have witnessed in the region

All protests and denouncements are followed daily by journalists at Globo

3. Two examples of how Globo Amazônia works

1) One day we received an e-mail from Mr. Alberto Setzer, an Inpe scientist

a. He told us about an unusual big fire in the state of Mato Grosso, inside a tribal land

b. We did what a media company does best: we called the pay phone of the tribe

c. The Indian chief answered and told us “yes”, their land was burning, and “of course” they had put it on fire. By mistake. But the fire went out of control

d. So we published the story online…

The next morning, the local fire brigade went there to extinguish the fire – they had read about it on Globo Amazônia

2) Recently, the opposite also happened:

a. We did a story about protesters who burnt two huge barges of wood near Santarém, in the state of Pará

b. Again, Mr. Setzer e-mailed us and asked for the GPS coordinates of that event, to check whether the satellites had caught that fire

4. What are the actual results?

a) Between September 2008 and December 2009, we’ve had:i. 555,000+ registered application usersii. 51+ million virtual protests

b) People relate strongly to the project

c) Denouncements become news stories on the Internet or on the Fantástico TV show, watched by 40 million people weekly

d) Protests are through the internet, but results happen on the real world

e) Increased exposure of the general public to the Amazon deforestation subject (by 10 times on Brazilian television)

f) The environmental agency in Brazil (Ibama) is now watching our interactive map to try and halt the destruction

5. Who makes Globo Amazônia?

a) On a daily basis, only 3 people

b) Other people helped us build the website at Globo.com

c) And, of course, there would be no Globo Amazônia if Inpe didn´t do the mapping they´ve been doing for years…

d) When we have a story big enough to go to TV, many more help produce and shoot the broadcast story

e) Globo Amazônia is also made by those 550,000 Brazilians who use it at home or at work

f) Globo Amazônia needs government agencies that can go on the field, make arrests or issue fines

6. Improving Globo Amazônia

a) Our goals for the future include:

1) Launching Globo Amazônia in English

2) Displaying the high-resolution satellite images and teaching the general public about them

3) Using Globo Amazônia to help achieve Brazil’s goal: lower deforestation by 80 per cent until 2020

Eduardo Acquaroneeduardo.acquarone@tvglobo.com.br

eduacquarone@gmail.com

Globo Amazôniaamazonia@corp.globo.com