On 13 October 2015, a special session was organised at the Brazilian Senate in Brasilia to commemorate 70 years of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. During this event, 10 Brazilian scientists were awarded the Heroes of the Brazilian Green Revolution prize. Among the recipients of the prizes was Dr. Heitor Cantarella, from the Agronomic Institute of Campinas (BE-Basic partner in project F08.002.03 in collaboration with Eiko Kuramae from BE-Basic partner NIOO-KNAW), co-funded by FAPESP.

Part of the 2050 Challenge Project, the prize was supported by FAO-United Nations, ANDEF, ABAG and EMBRAPA and was given in recognition for the contribution of scientists that helped to place Brazil among the elite of the global food production nations, turning it into one of the world’s major food exporters while preserving 60% of its native forests.

Cantarella is one of the founders and coordinators of a FAPESP research program on Bioenergy (BIOEN-FAPESP), and works together with Kuramae on 3 bilateral projects between FAPESP-BIOEN and BE-Basic on Sustainability and Biobased Economy, covering subjects such as soil sciences, soil fertility, GHG emissions, nitrogen losses, microbial ecology and environmental genomics.

More information about BIOEN-FAPESP: http://bioenfapesp.org