Wiki Movimento Brasil is the main organiser of the project “Amazonian Knowledge on Wiki” with funding from Creative Commons and Wikimedia Switzerland. It aims to disseminate information about the biodiversity of the Pará Amazon. The collections, especially those related to biodiversity, emphasize the crucial role of open knowledge in preparation for COP-30, which will be held in Belém (Brazil) in 2025.

“We believe that open knowledge is essential for tackling global challenges, especially when it comes to preserving vital ecosystems like the Amazon. This is why Wikimedia GLAM has co-founded the project “Amazonian Knowledge on Wiki”, said Wikimedia CH GLAM programme lead Sandra Becker.

This project was born from the conviction that accessible, freely shared information about the Pará Amazon’s biodiversity can empower communities, researchers, and policymakers to act on conservation and climate change. This objective corresponds to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal No. 13. Wikimedia CH will align its activities with these sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the future.

Devided in three parts, the third delivereable has recently been completed and draws the project to a close.

It was an upload of 10’684 images, depicting 1’800 species of plants which all are part of the herbarium collection of The Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (MPEG). While this data was already available at REFLORA platform, 1’121 of those species now have their first image thanks to this collection (i.e., now they have a P18) on Wikidata.

With COP-30 set to take place in Belém in 2025, we see this project as a critical step in ensuring that the Amazon is at the heart of global climate discussions. This project embodies our values of sustainability, collaboration, and open access — values we believe are key to protecting our cultural heritage for future generations.

The Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi is a research institution and museum located in the city of Belém. It was founded in 1866 as the Pará Museum of Natural History and Ethnography, and was later named in honor of Swiss naturalist Émil August Goeldi, who reorganized the institution and was its director from 1894 to 1905.

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Photo: Screenshot; Ex libris by Emílio Goeldi (1902), from Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi Collection