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Ecomanage Kick-Off meeting, Santos, Brazil
February 14^th - 17^th, 2005

EcoManage formal start-off was officially marked by the Kick-off meeting held on Universidade de Santa Cecília (UNISANTA) in Santos, Brazil, between 14^th and 17^th February 2005. The meeting, hosted by the local Brazilian partner UNISANTA, joined scientific partners, stakeholders, local authorities, academic community and general population. The meeting received a lot of local and national media coverage, especially regarding its relevance to the local estuarine system of Santos and the inherent challenging environmental problems and socio-economical constraints therein.

The project involves UNISANTA and IOUSP from Brazil, IST, Hidromod and LNEC from Portugal, Universidad de Chile and CEA from Chile, IADO from Argentina, Noctiluca from The Netherlands, and University of Trieste from Italy. [for more details on the partners please click here]
The meeting also had the participation of stakeholders like local ONG’s as well as other scientific and environmental representatives.

The Kick-off meeting started with the Magnum opening session chaired by UNISANTA’s Rector, Prof. Dra. Sílvia Teixeira Penteado and the project coordinator, Prof. Dr. Ramiro Neves from IST, Portugal. The session also counted with the participation of several civil, military, and environmental management local authorities’ representatives. It was in this public session that the consortium of international research teams and respective institutions involved were first introduced to the general public; there were also discussions on the project objectives, highlighted for each study site. The particular relevance of the project outcomes for the Santos Estuary future management policies was also stressed.

The following days of the meeting were spent with several presentation sessions addressing specific project aims, available research tools and methodologies, partners actual knowledge and experience and other technical and management details.
On the last day, a special session was held for the stakeholders that were particularly participative and proved to be highly motivated towards an active relationship with project’s scientific teams. Also on the last day, EcoManage team was divided in two task forces, one addressing socio-economic and watershed issues and the other water-quality related issues. The agenda included defining the short-term deliverables and work strategy to achieve them. 

A boat trip was planed for the third day of the meeting; it included a visit to the Estuary and Bay of Santos. During the boat trip, several media interventions were made to the local newspapers and television channels. 

A careful presentation of the main physical, chemical and ecological characteristics of the estuary was carried out throughout the trip by several local scientists from UNISANTA. All major anthropogenic pressures were stressed, namely: (a) the harbour activities and adjacent facilities; (b) the characteristic over-populated favelas (slum quarters) built on mangrove areas and whose wastes are considered a diffuse source of organic contamination; (c) and all the chemical industries contaminated effluents.

Partners were able to identify, in loco, the degree of ecological complexity of the surrounding mangrove system, as well as the implications on social-economic issues.

The guided boat trip was an informative way to develop an awareness of the dynamics and pollution issues that should be addressed in the project.
After a quick stop at the Santos submarine outfall area, to try to identify the plume, the boat trip finally came to an end at Ilha das Palmas, a small private island in Santos Bay. The relaxing atmosphere of the island was ideal for partners to socialize. The visit to the island provided an insight of the natural patrimony of the Santos Area.

Besides being the official start for the project, EcoManage Kick-Off meeting was an informative event to the national scientific community and in particular to the general public; this was clearly represented by the intense media coverage.

News on the EcoManage project can be seen in the following links:

link 1 (in Portuguese)

link 2 (in Portuguese)

link 3 (in Portuguese)

link 4 (in Portuguese)

link 5 (in Portuguese)

link 6 (in Portuguese)

link 7 (in Spanish)