With the announcement of preparations for the 12th Census of Agriculture, Forestry and Aquaculture and of the Census of the Homeless Population, besides the modernization of three important works developed by the Directorate of Geosciences, the IBGE concluded, on Monday (Jan 26), the series of five presentations on the 2026 Work Plan. The ceremony was held at the auditorium of the Federation of Trade of Goods, Services and Tourismo of Amapá state (Fecomércio-AP), in the capital, Macapá. Besides the Director of Geosciences, Maria do Carmo Bueno, Marcio Pochmann, president of the IBGE, Augusto Cesar Borges, IBGE state superintendent in Amapá, and Ladislao Pedroso Monte, president of Fecomércio-AP, besides other guests and IBGE employees, attended the event. 

"We are finishing a week of releases, in each one of the cities that represented the five Major Regions in Brazil. The IBGE needs to prepare itself so that our institution will be up to the challenges we face, as once dreamt of by Teixeira de Freitas," said the president.

Roads, waterways, two Censuses, AI and royalties

When presenting the highlights of the 2026 Work Plan in the Geosciences field, Maria do Carmo reminded participants that her department's routine has a number of tasks, more than could be covered in a presentation. “In 2026, IBGE will finish preparations for the Census of Agriculture, in addition to conducting tests for the Census of the Homeless Population,” informed the director, emphasizing that the IBGE Geosciences professionals play a significant role in these preparations. 

“The basic routine of IBGE's geosciences involves cartographic updates and geodetic studies. Furthermore, we update the territorial base, including census sectors and satellite images, which are inputs for the censuses conducted by the institute,” said the director, who explained that these inputs, including the images, feed the mobile data collection devices used by the enumerators.

Maria do Carmo also informed that improvements are planned "regarding land coverage and use," which would make this survey more dynamic, faster, and more effective. "We intend to use artificial intelligence for this purpose."

Another highlight refers to the calculation of oil royalties, "an issue that also interests Amapá," the director noted, referring to the country's new oil frontier, located on the equatorial margin, which should generate revenue for the state in the future.

“The IBGE works in with ANP to calculate the distribution of oil royalties. We still use an outdated methodology from the 1980s. We intend to modernize this calculation without changing the legislation, but using geoprocessing software and making the results more transparent,” highlighted the director. “We want to present the results through maps, so that there will be no doubt about how the calculations are made, since they involve a lot of money and, therefore, are always being questioned,” she emphasized.

Maria do Carmo also observed that “most people think that IBGE only conducts censuses, or that we only carry out surveys in economic areas. But the Geosciences Directorate also conducts research.” “This year, we will go into the field to investigate road and waterway connections,” she said. According to the director, this work details the connections by road, waterways or sea, in all municipalities of the country, including distances, travel times, origin and destination, ticket prices, etc. “These results serve as input for other areas of Geosciences, such as the study of the Areas of Influence of Cities, the famous Regic, in addition to updating the regional divisions used by IBGE. Until the middle of the year, we will conduct tests and training, as well as develop our software. From mid-2026 onwards, we will go into the field.” 

To conclude her presentation, the director requested cooperation of IBGE employees and users of information in the tasks to be carried out in 2026, “so that everyone can make full use of our surveys, which are always so relevant.”

Pochmann recalls efforts made by the IBGE in the IT segment

The president of the IBGE reinforced the importance of projects to be developed by the Directorate of Geosciences in and highlighted that the IBGE and the country have faced challenges caused by the “new information revolution.”

Pochmann also highlighted the challenges caused by demographic transformations outlined by the IBGE population projections: “Some municipalities will lose populations, with a reduction in fertility.” According to the president of the IBGE, the consequences of the demographic transitions encompass from the reduction in the number of enrollments up to challenges in the field of Public Health, due to the ageing of the Brazilian population.

Following Pochmann's presentation, the president of Fecomércio-AP, Ladislau Pessoa, confirmed his gratitude for the state's selection for the closing session of the IBGE's Work Plan presentations and reinforced his organization's intentions to support the work of the Institute in the state. After a 40-year hiatus, this is the first visit by an IBGE president to the Amapá Superintendency since the early 1980s, when Jesse Montello, then president of IBGE, was there. It is also the first time that Macapá has hosted an IBGE Work Plan presentation. 

Losses in 2025

At the opening of the ceremony, a tribute was paid to Haroldo Canto Ferreira, superintendent of IBGE in Amapá, who passed away on September 15th, 2025. The speech by the head of the Amapá Information Dissemination Section (SDI) highlighted the importance of Haroldo's work for the institutional consolidation of IBGE in the Major Region. Part of this recognition was the launch of the Corporate Governance Plan, conceived during his tenure, which will be implemented throughout 2026. 

Pochmann emphasized the importance of Haroldo's work to the institute and recalled two other significant losses among its staff, also occurring in September: Manoel José de Souza Neto and Valmir de Souza e Silva, during the fire at the IBGE Ecological Reserve in Brasília.

At the end of the ceremony, the IBGE superintendent in Amapá, Augusto Cesar Borges, thanked the participants and recalled the loss of "a person who dedicated his life to the IBGE," referring to Haroldo Canto Ferreira. He also highlighted the challenges faced by that state branch of the IBGE, including the collection of information from companies. "Despite the great loss we suffered in 2025, I am counting heavily on the partnerships and the IBGE team to achieve success in 2026," he concluded.

It is the first time Macapá hosts the prsentation of the IBGE Work Plan. - Photo: Dissemination Archive 

Nine decades of Memory

The coordinator of the Center for Information Documentation and Dissemination (CDDI), José Daniel Castro, spoke about the improvements in the IBGE's website, highlighting the new sections for work reports, agendas, and the institute's archives.

Pochmann, in turn, highlighted the working group that deals with the institution's history and recalled that Teixeira de Freitas was "the longest-serving president of this institution, a revolutionary who took up arms," ​​also emphasizing the various public positions held by the first president of the IBGE. "Thanks to him, we have the areas of Geosciences and Statistics in the same institution, which is extremely advantageous for Brazil, especially with current technologies."

The president also detailed the evolution of IBGE's surveys over the 20th century, including the adoption of sample surveys, price indexes, and GDP. The president also recalled the dictatorship and the censorship imposed on IBGE's work: "Memory serves to remind us that we have already lived through situations that we do not wish to happen again," he concluded.

The presentation by the Geosciences Directorate in Macapá was the fifth and final event in a series of five regional meetings that detailed aspects of IBGE's 2026 Work Plan. On Tuesday (20), the 2026 Work Plan was presented in São Francisco do Conde (BA); on Wednesday (21); in Brasília (DF); on Thursday (22), in Curitiba (PR); and on Friday, in Belo Horizonte (MG).The events were attended by approximately 500 people in person, and hundreds online, following the live broadcasts

Watch the presentation of the 2026 Work Plan, in Macapá: