Every year, environmental disasters gain prominence in the news and the tragic stories of people who have lost their homes in floods are repeated. This scenario highlights the sustainable development challenges facing cities and makes it clear how the climate crisis is worsening housing conditions in Brazil.
Talking about this relationship is sometimes delicate because of the human suffering it entails, but it is necessary in order to expose the challenge that is already affecting this generation and is likely to intensify for the next. This reflection is important even to provoke the creation of solutions, based on data, analysis, experiences and specialized knowledge.
Is the climate crisis intensifying the rains?
What we are calling the climate crisis are the consequences of an economic model with high emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, which are gradually increasing the planet's temperature and causing climate change.
It's true that, in addition to what we always hear about global warming and the melting of the polar ice caps, the climate crisis is manifesting itself in other extreme events, such as peaks of heat and drought in some regions and an increase in concentrated rainfall in others - storms that increase landslides on steep slopes and flooding in valley bottoms.
Various authors and studies have reported on the negative and sometimes tragic social and economic effects in various countries and in several Brazilian cities, resulting from the process of climate change that the world is experiencing. Among them, the AR6 report by the The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - IPCC, warns of future scenarios in which the increase in global temperature is likely to more than double the occurrence of these super rain events, with intensities 30% higher.
Since large cities are structured with better-equipped and protected urban centers and the outskirts are established in areas lacking adequate urban infrastructure and, consequently, more likely to be at risk, the environmental problem also becomes social and a collective responsibility.
The housing deficit in Brazil
The UN estimates that in 2020 there will be 30.7 million displacements due to climate-related disasters. According to the Ipsos Institute survey "Climate Change: Severity of Effects and Displacement Expectations", 49% of people believe that they will need to change their address in the next 25 years due to climate change in Brazil.
It is well known that no one chooses to live in a risky area or building if they have the option of living more safely. It is the lack of economic conditions and public provision of safe urban areas that causes low-income families to settle in areas subject to risk.
It can be seen that when floods and landslides occur, the most vulnerable and affected areas are favelas and hillside dwellings. It is because of the geographical risk of these territories that environmental disasters mainly affect black populations in Brazil. In Brazil, 55% of the population is black, but among slum dwellers blacks account for a much higher percentage - 67% according to research by the Locomotiva Institute in partnership with Data Favela and the Central Única das Favelas (Cufa).
When it comes to risk management, it's up to the public authorities to step up their efforts to identify risk areas and monitor them, in addition to diligent social work to continuously inform and prepare the population to collaborate in dealing with emergencies caused by extreme weather events, which tend to intensify.
According to a study "Annual Mapping of Urbanized Areas in Brazil between 1985 and 2021"According to MapBiomas, the five cities that currently have the most risk areas are: Salvador (BA), Ribeirão das Neves (MG), Jaboatão dos Guararapes (PE), São Paulo (SP) and Recife (PE).
Data such as that provided by this valuable map should serve as a guide for public policies that are up-to-date and consistent with Brazilian legislation. Law No. 12.608/2012 establishes the National Civil Protection and Defence Policy (PNPDEC) and emphasizes the need for articulated management of various sectoral policies with a focus on prevention and participation.
Mitigation strategies
The consequences of the climate crisis are a reality in many corners of Brazil. And water management is an important step towards solving these problems. Part of the current challenge is to devise solutions that understand the intersection between the environmental and the social in order to mitigate the impacts of climate change in urban contexts.
But it is through social management combined with preventive urban planning and urban management actions that we will be able to envision a scenario of a city that is prepared to deal with extreme weather events, in other words, a city with greater resilience.
Once the areas and communities at risk have been identified, the public authorities need to implement diligent social work to inform, monitor and continually prepare the population to observe signs of risk, to collaborate in monitoring and preventing new occupations, to deal with emergencies and, when necessary, to organize the removal and resettlement of families at risk.
This reality is connected to the SDG agenda of sustainable development in cities and the reduction of inequalities. Through public policies and in-depth social management work, it is possible to combat inequality in cities and mitigate the consequences of the climate crisis without excluding the peripheries. Sustainable Development GoalsWe are committed to the development of sustainable cities and communities, which is our main cause.
