Study proposes recommendations and ways forward for digital connectivity in Brazilian Amazon

Access to digital connectivity is increasingly understood as synonymous with integration into contemporary society, strengthening the capacities of individuals and communities, and generating more opportunities to uphold their rights and development possibilities. In the case of Brazil, however, many parts of the country still don’t have stable, high-quality ways to access digital connectivity.

This is the situation faced by most of the traditional communities in the Amazon – one of the segments of society most excluded from digital connectivity. These communities tend to live in a multidimensional condition of exclusion, which involves a lack of physical connectivity for transportation and poor access to safe, high-quality electricity, making the lack of digital connectivity yet another emerging challenge for their development.

The launch of Paths to Digital Connectivity in the Brazilian Amazon, a policy brief produced through a partnership between FGVces and WWF, seeks to contribute to this debate.

The document aims to meet two complementary objectives: to analyze the Brazilian state’s main initiatives to expand and disseminate digital connectivity in the Brazilian Amazon; and to suggest recommendations and paths for decision makers working on this agenda, which is so relevant to development.

As well as mapping documents on initiatives to expand digital connectivity in the Amazon and holding interviews with key players, in order to illustrate the dynamics of connectivity from the perspective of a specific community, the study looked at the connection trajectory of Aldeia Solimões, a territory of the Kumaruara people located in the Tapajós-Arapiuns Extractive Reserve in Pará, which has a long and varied track record of seeking digital connectivity.

The study points out that Brazil has an important set of public policies aimed at infrastructure for digital connectivity across the country. However, presenting the political and technological conditions for connectivity is only the first step toward a connectivity model with the potential to provide a broad spectrum of capacities for development.

It is important to enable connectivity models that include a more sophisticated network of connections, featuring multiple public or private sector operators and different types of technological infrastructure, as part of a combined access and energy agenda. In addition, it is increasingly urgent for digital connectivity education to play a major role in this area, both from the perspective of possible regulations and to prepare citizens for digital social life.

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