The PurpleAir Donation Program | April 2025

PurpleAir Donation Program Donation Program Applications
45

  1. What type of organization best describes you? Educators and Researchers

  2. Describe your organization. I am a university professor (Universidade Federal do Pará) and ecosystem ecology researcher working in the Brazilian Amazon, especially with a focus on air quality monitoring, science outreach, and community-based environmental education. Since 2021, and with the creation of the Respira Amazônia Coalition (https://respiraamazonia.org.br/), I have been working to expand the air quality monitoring network in the state of Pará, a region that unfortunately stands out for its high rates of deforestation and environmental degradation in the Amazon biome. In 2024, the state of Pará lost 1.51 million hectares (Mha) of natural forest, which is equivalent to the emission of 640 Mt of CO₂ to the atmosphere (https://www.globalforestwatch.org/dashboards/country/BRA/14/?category=undefined&lang=en).

  3. Describe your project. Our aim is to acquire low-cost air quality sensors, to produce accessible data and raise awareness of the health and ecological impacts of forest burning. Our goal is to generate real-time, community-accessible data to better understand the impact of smoke exposure on local populations, especially in traditional communities. This work is particularly important in the Amazon, where conventional monitoring stations are scarce and deforestation and fire are widespread. In 2024, Amazonian cities recorded the worst air quality indices in Brazil, due to biomass burning. By combining scientific research, public outreach, and environmental education, we not only want to strengthen monitoring efforts, but also to support public policies and decision-makers in tackling and mitigating this serious environmental and health problem.

  4. Which PurpleAir model(s) are you interested in and how many would you want for your project? We are interested in the PurpleAir Flex Air Quality Monitor. We would like to request 10 units to effectively expand coverage across multiple strategic areas in our project. The state of Pará, which spans 1,248,000 km², comprises 144 municipalities, and is home to over 8 million people, currently has only 12 active air quality sensors.

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