Our History

 A new kind of think tank: headquartered in Rio and partnered across Brazil and several other countries, we carried innovation in our DNA, advancing security and development from Brazil to the world and bringing lessons from around the world back to Brazil.

 In articles published with partners, Igarapé introduced its credentials as a Brazilian think tank by highlighting the country’s relevance in innovating and exporting social technologies to nations facing socioeconomic vulnerability.

The Igarapé Institute’s first official publication, “The Brazil Effect – Brazilian Civilian Experts in Fragile or Post-Conflict Countries”, addresses the country’s role in peace operations and sets out our vision of Brazil’s importance and potential in tackling major global challenges.

During negotiations for the Arms Trade Treaty, Igarapé developed the Mapping Arms Data tool, the world’s first visualization platform of arms sales and purchases, in partnership with Google Ideas and PRIO-NISAT. The map was viewed by 5 million people.

As part of the Secretariat of the Global Commission on Drug Policy—composed of former heads of state, intellectuals, and business leaders, and chaired by former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso—Igarapé promoted and influenced the qualified global debate on the issue.

Coordinating the Pense Livre Network, which brought together young Brazilian leaders, we opened new fronts in the country’s agenda for a fairer, more humane, and more effective drug policy.

With international partners, we developed an app to monitor police activity via cell phones, adopted in several countries and recommended by Human Rights Watch. We also launched the Child Security Index (CSI), a tool to map how children experience violence in low-income neighborhoods.

We expanded the debate on Brazil’s role in issues such as the reform of the UN Security Council and civilian capacity in peace operations and political missions. We also influenced the post-2015 development agenda, advising the UN High-Level Panel.

As a partner of the Open Empowerment Initiative (OEI), Igarapé researched how the digital environment shaped citizen action during the year of major street demonstrations in Brazil. We analyzed social media and the impacts of cybercrime for the Organization of American States (OAS).

We connected experiences and policymakers through the Citizen Security Dialogues, involving Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Central America. The mapping of 1,300 citizen security interventions across 30 Latin American countries formed the basis for a series of publications on fragile cities.

Igarapé was the only South American institution among the ten winners of Google’s New Digital Age Award, granted to organizations that stand out for using technology to address global challenges.

Igarapé coordinated the research and publication of the Global Commission on Drug Policy report, which proposed five more humane and effective approaches. Ilona Szabó, co-founder of the Institute, spoke on the topic at TED Global held in Rio.

With the publication of the study “Promoting Gender and Consolidating Peace: The Brazilian Experience”, we influenced the Brazilian government’s agenda and were cited in a speech during the UN Security Council’s open debate on Women, Peace, and Security.

We developed a new logo and website, highlighting our mission to build connections across multiple audiences and uniting our commitment to the use of new technologies with respect for our roots.

We launched the Homicide Observatory, monitoring homicide trends in more than 200 countries and territories. In the following years, the tool evolved into the Homicide Monitor platform, which became the most visited page on our website.

The technical note coordinated and published by Igarapé, which proposed objective criteria to distinguish between drug traffickers and users, was cited by Justices Luís Roberto Barroso and Gilmar Mendes in the landmark Supreme Court ruling on the decriminalization of marijuana possession.

We worked to engage Brazil and the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean in the UN 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We influenced Brazil’s position to include SDG 16 – peace, justice, and violence reduction – in the final document.

In partnership with the World Economic Forum, the United Nations University, and 100 Resilient Cities, Igarapé developed a data visualization system covering 2,100 cities worldwide with populations above 250,000. It was launched at TEDSummit in Canada and in other countries.

For the first time the Olympic Games were held in South America, we launched Crime Radar, the world’s first public crime prediction platform, powered by machine learning and based on five years of data from the Rio metropolitan area.

In partnership with Rio de Janeiro State’s public security sector, we developed and implemented ISPGeo, a real-time crime mapping and analysis system. This georeferencing tool, which enables the identification of crime hotspots, remains a benchmark.

We started the year at the World Economic Forum, presenting the interactive platform Earth Time, which monitors global climate and humanitarian risks, developed in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University’s Create Lab.

Igarapé co-founder Ilona Szabó portrayed the fictional lives of five characters representing the world of drugs in the book “Drugs: The Stories You Were Never Told”, co-written with Isabel Clemente. It was launched in a debate with former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso and physician Drauzio Varella.

With the report “Brazil and the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet – The State of Digital Governance”, we advanced the debate by helping identify emerging challenges arising from the new legislation. Our work was cited in the National Cybersecurity Strategy (E-Ciber).

Launched at the World Economic Forum in Buenos Aires, the Instinct for Life campaign brought together 60 organizations across seven Latin American countries with the goal of reducing homicides by 50% in 10 years. In Brazil, it was led by Igarapé and resulted in the creation of the Parliamentary Front for Violence Prevention and Homicide Reduction.

On World Drug Day, we launched the Monitor for Drug Policy in the Americas. The platform provides information and data on national drug legislation and policies across the continent, as well as a historical perspective on the changes that have taken place.

The crisis in this area was at the center of Igarapé’s work on the topic. The book “Public Security to turn the tide”, by Ilona Szabó and Melina Risso, presented proposals developed by Igarapé through several partnerships with state and federal governments.

The festival “Turning the Tide”, organized by Igarapé and eight partner organizations at Circo Voador in Rio, combined debates and performances by emerging music talents to mobilize, inform, and seek solutions for public security.

For the first time, Igarapé won recognition as one of the Top 100 NGOs in Brazil from Instituto Doar, and also as the best human rights organization. We received this award again in 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

In response to federal decrees easing firearms regulations, we worked with political and civil society leaders to highlight the risks these measures posed to public security. We served as amicus curiae in cases before the Supreme Federal Court (STF) and supported the We Are Not Targets campaign.

To expose the scope and scale of violence against women and improve government responses, we launched, in partnership with Uber, the EVA platform (Evidence on Violence and Alternatives for Women and Girls) – a data repository to identify patterns and trends in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico.

At our first global climate conference, COP25, organized by the UN in Madrid, we presented the report “Climate and Security in Latin America and the Caribbean”.

In a year when science and democratic institutions were increasingly under threat, we mapped the Covid-19 pandemic’s relationship with issues such as homicides, incarceration, violence against women, deforestation, and threats to Indigenous peoples.

Igarapé co-founder Robert Muggah and professor Ian Goldin launched the book “Terra Incognita: 100 Maps to Survive the Next 100 Years”, which illustrates humanity’s impact on the planet and the ways we can save it, using imagery from Earth Time.

With the strategic paper  “Environmental Crime in the Amazon Basin: A Typology for Research, Policy, and Action”, we launched a new line of work to improve the mapping and tackling of environmental crimes.

We created the Civic Space program to foster civil society engagement in protecting democracy. Our president, Ilona Szabó, published the book “In Defense of Civic Space”, and we produced the podcast You Can Change the World, featuring civic leaders from across Brazil. It was later adapted into a TV series broadcast by Canal Futura.

We launched the EcoCrime data platform, which brings together stories, videos, information, and solutions addressing environmental crimes in the Amazon Basin. The platform was presented at the Paris Peace Forum and also at COP26 in Glasgow.

Drawing on a systematization effort covering 104 initiatives, 78 documents, and 10 sectors, Igarapé launched the Brazilian Cybersecurity Portal, a collaborative repository designed to foster a safer digital environment.

With the agenda “Civic space Is our space”, we launched a national campaign mobilizing 40 civil society organizations and 45 influencers, calling for the renewal of democratic construction in the country.

Igarapé led the global digital consultation for the development of Our Common Agenda, launched by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. We analyzed 523 proposals from 1,759 participants across 147 countries, and the summary of this work was published in the report “Accelerating inclusive global cooperation”.

The release of the study “The Ecosystem of the Environmental Crime in the Amazon: an analysis of the Illicit Rainforest Economies in Brazil” marked the consolidation of this concept, which places the security of people and forests at the heart of public debate and decision-making in Amazon countries.

Igarapé co-founder Ilona Szabó was the only Latin American appointed to the High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism (HLAB), established by the UN Secretary-General to make international cooperation more effective and inclusive.

Igarapé provided the Supreme Federal Court, Congress, and the press with data from the “Targeted Mistrust” bulletin series. We also played a key role in the creation of the Parliamentary Front for Arms and Ammunition Control, For Peace and For Life.

During a decisive electoral process for democracy, Igarapé and Instituto Sou da Paz presented ten proposals to presidential candidates under the agenda “Public Security Is the Solution”. The multidimensional security vision for the Brazilian Amazon was shared with the transition government in the agenda “Govern so as not to surrender”.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, we launched a new data platform underscoring our focus on climate security. With interactive maps and charts covering all 772 municipalities of the Legal Amazon, the Amazon in Loco platform deepens the understanding of these territories.

The HLAB released the report “A Breakthrough for People and Planet”, with proposals for effective and inclusive global governance. In September, our president, Ilona Szabó, joined UN Secretary-General António Guterres during the UN High-Level Week in a debate on the role of civil society in achieving the SDGs.

 We launched the series “Follow the Money”, a pioneering survey on the links between money laundering and environmental crimes in the Amazon Basin. The promotion of regional cooperation to combat these illicit activities was the focus of the Regional Meeting we organized with security and justice agencies from across the region.

Through the What Gun is That? transparency ranking, we evaluated the quality—or lack—of information on firearms provided by Military, Civil, and Forensic Police forces in Brazil’s 27 states.

We took our efforts for a green and just transition to New York Climate Week. Igarapé contributed to the federal government’s Ecological Transformation Plan and facilitated a meeting between Finance Minister Fernando Haddad and international policymakers.

At COP28 in Dubai, we launched the bulletin “Global incentive mechanism to protect standing forests” and highlighted in panels and discussions the challenge of transforming the environmental crime ecosystem into an ecosystem of green enterprises.

Preventing and reducing violence against women in the Amazon was a central theme, with the launch of the Women in the Amazon: Conflicts and Violence platform and the study “Violence Against Women in the Legal Amazon in the Last Five Years”.

In partnership with the Arapyaú Institute, we brought together international leaders at the Bellagio Center in Italy to discuss risk reduction, improving the business environment, and strengthening nature-based solutions in the Amazon. This was the first step in our Green Bridge Facility platform.

In June, we celebrated a historic milestone with the decriminalization of cannabis possession for personal use by the Supreme Federal Court. This decision, a victory in the struggle for fairer policies, was supported by a Technical Note published by Igarapé in 2015—cited in several of the justices’ votes during the ruling.

As the only Brazilian organization to take part in the entire process of the UN’s Our Common Agenda initiative—which culminated in the Summit of the Future and the Pact for the Future—Igarapé participated in the Action Days and the conference itself, held in New York.

At COP16 in Cali, Igarapé led key discussions on illegal gold mining in the Amazon, the eradication of environmental crimes, territorial risk and resilience, and bioeconomy financing.

At COP29 in Baku, we highlighted the synergies between the G20 and COP agendas regarding responsible investments for preserving the Amazon and other biomes. At the first-ever Social G20 in Rio, we led the task force on multilateralism and provided input to the working group promoting the bioeconomy.

Igarapé was one of the organizers of the high-level roundtable on transnational organized crime during the 61st Munich Security Conference. Moderated by our Head of Innovation, Robert Muggah, the event included participation from state ministers and leaders of international security agencies.

At London Climate Action Week, Igarapé’s president, Ilona Szabó, addressed global finance and climate action in an event with King Charles III of the UK. Igarapé also participated in meetings in Bonn and Seville to promote concrete actions against the climate crisis.

Working with nature, not against it, is key for countries like Brazil to become biodiversity superpowers. With this message, Igarapé’s president, Ilona Szabó, offered a fresh perspective on the value of nature in her talk at TED Countdown in Nairobi.