We align ourselves with declarations such as the Open and Collaborative Science Manifesto:

“We recognize that citizen science is one of the pillars of the development of open science. We seek the development of “an inclusive science that not only meets the material and intellectual needs of society but that improves our well-being, achieves social justice and empowers every individual to use knowledge as a pathway to the sustainable development of their communities.”

We are part of the Amazon Waters Initiative, contributing towards generating scientific evidence to inform decisions in a cost-effective manner, raising awareness among people in support of conservation, and empowering citizens to protect the Amazon basin. This is how we maintain connectivity across this large interconnected and dynamic freshwater system, while supporting the well-being of people, wildlife and environments on which they depend.

Unifying vision at the scale of the Amazon Basin:

We focus our work in the Amazon basin from a multiscale and unifying vision, with a basin approach, recognizing that the Amazon ecosystem is interconnected and requires a local, regional, and global vision to address its conservation and development. We also recognize the need for data to be aggregated and accessible at different scales, in order to effectively inform conservation decisions or management actions where they take place – e.g. communities, social organizations, sub-basins, political jurisdictions, or the Amazon Basin itself. The Network’s priorities focus on freshwater ecosystems (fish and waters) and its relationship with people.

Respect:  

We respect human rights and sovereignty of the countries, its territories, knowledge, and culture.

Innovation, experimentation and learning:

We are a space of experimentation where we build new things from everyone's experience. As part of this, we explore new questions and promote innovation to solve concrete problems. We seek to develop functional technological solutions depending on the context where they are required, we promote that they are low cost and have autonomy of use, especially by local communities. 

Collaboration:  

We facilitate connections between scientists and civil society, each of them with their own objectives but working together in participatory collaboration spaces. We believe in building equitable relations that benefit both when it comes to generating knowledge. We foster a fair collaboration based on transparency and ethics.

Because it is the largest and most biodiverse freshwater system in the world!

A system that is totally interconnected by the rivers and the fish that run through them.

Because we still have a lot to understand about how it works, especially about the migrations of fish that are one of the main sources of protein and economic income for millions of people.

BECAUSE OF ITS RIVERS

Keys to people's lives in the Amazon. Rivers connect people, communities and cities. They provide people with water and food and are the basis of Amazonian cultures and traditions. They are also the main channels for the flow of water, sediment and nutrients, connecting habitats and forming the backbone of the functioning of aquatic ecosystems.

BECAUSE OF ITS FISH

Migratory fish represent about 80% of the commercial catch. This is why they are so important for food security and the Amazon economy.

+2400 species described. This represents 19% of the world's known freshwater fish diversity.

BECAUSE OF ITS PEOPLE

33 million people live in the Amazon Basin. Home to 384 indigenous peoples and nationalities with fundamental traditional knowledge about rivers and fish.

8 countries make it up

Ictio is an app and database on migratory fish in the Amazon, built through collaboration between local and indigenous populations, individual fishermen, management groups, associations and scientists.