BRAZIL
IN ANTARCTICA
OUR FLAG
PLANTED IN THE ICE
The Brazilian Antarctic Program (Programa Antártico Brasileiro – PROANTAR), which started in 1982 under the leadership of the Inter-Ministry Commission for Marine Resources (Comissão Interministerial para os Recursos do Mar), has been assigned the mission of ensuring Brazil’s presence in the Antarctic Continent. During that year, the first expedition, Operation Antarctica I, set sail to select a place where the first Brazilian Antarctic station would be built. The success was such that, in 1983, international acknowledgment resulted in the acceptance of Brazil as a consulting party in the Antarctic Treaty.
In February 1984, the Estação Antártica Comandante Ferraz – EACF began its operations as a basis for Brazilian and foreign researchers studying Antarctica. In 2012, a New EACF was built and it began its operations in 2020 on King George Island, equipped with state-of-the-art laboratories that have enabled significant research improvements, especially those related to natural phenomena that may affect Brazil’s cattle farming, agriculture and fishing due to the nearness of both territories.
INTERNATIONAL
RESPONSIBILITY
The PROANTAR program also promotes important scientific partnerships with other countries. Brazil reinforces its adherence to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty – known as the Madrid Protocol, taking on international commitments for the performance of scientific research and preservation of the Antarctic environment, enabling Brazil to participate in the harnessing of the region’s natural resources and the decision-making process of the Treaty System.