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Ambitions and Challenges for Adaptation in Brazil

Article originally published on the Brazil Climate Action Hub website


In the last year, 800 deaths from natural disasters were recorded in Brazil, according to a survey by the Iyaleta Research Association. The peripheral populations in the countryside and in the cities, mainly composed of black people, of low income, inhabitants of the periphery, especially mothers of families and children, are the most affected by the climate crisis. Urban management becomes essential to avoid new tragedies.

By Daniela Vianna and Renata Rodriguez, ClimaInfo

The panel “Ambitions and Challenges for Adaptation”, held at the Brazil Climate Action Hub last Friday, November 11, and organized by a group of organizations (list below), was divided into two roundtables of debates on adaptation to the climate crisis and its financing mechanisms. This is a central topic on the agenda of this year’s United Nations Climate Conference (COP27) in Egypt. In the general scope of the COP, the debate mainly involves the percentage of climate finance resources that will be allocated to the mitigation and adaptation of the climate crisis.

At the first table, “Adaptation Policies and Cities”, geographer Diosmar Filho, a researcher at the Iyaleta Research Association, presented data from the study “Summary: Strategies for national adaptation plans in the case of Brazil”, on inequalities and climate change in areas urban areas in the Legal Amazon region. The study, carried out in partnership with Instituto Clima e Sociedade (iCS), involves knowledge transfer in research on health and territorial planning, and has the challenge of diving into data on urban inequalities in the North and Northeast regions of Brazil. The study points to the need to review the National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change, with the creation of goals that consider the realities of cities in terms of deforestation, the effects of urban surface heating,

“Between 2015 and 2021, according to the denial policy implemented in Brazil, we noticed an increase in data from Rio Grande do Norte from 145 to 4,775 people who died and are being affected by natural disasters”, Diosmar pointed out, saying that “in Porto Velho, for example, are experiencing surface warming. In the states of Pernambuco, Alagoas, Bahia and Rio Grande do Norte, we had increased rainfall”. According to him, it is urgent that the Statutes of the Cities return to being a Statute for the cities. “Today it is an instrument of gentrification, with increasing inequalities while we try to create mechanisms of resilience. We have, for example, to debate coastal issues, urban watersheds”.

Daniela Costa, Climate and Justice manager at Greenpeace Brazil, said that the organization, recognizing the urgency of the climate crisis in Brazil and in the world, launched a campaign focused on extreme events and adaptation, identifying areas of vulnerability and investing in public pressure. Science and reality show that mitigating is no longer enough, it is necessary to adapt. The initiative works with young people on the periphery of urban centers so that they can be agents of change, monitoring and identifying problems and solutions in the territories and putting pressure on public authorities.

“This COP in Egypt is unique because it makes us reflect that not always those most impacted contributed to the climate crisis,” she said. “In Brazil, with the highest levels of inequality in the world, not everyone is in the same boat. Most of the population does not have access to lifeguards and generally the most oppressed and marginalized classes of the Brazilian population are suffering the most from extreme weather events. There is a disregard for life”, she pointed out, pointing out that cities are at the forefront of this crisis that mainly affects the peripheries.

Citing recent research by the Instituto Pólis, Daniela warned that those most exposed to extreme events in Brazil are low-income black people who live in peripheral regions and, in particular, mothers. “Cities themselves have their inequalities. The city of São Paulo, for example, which has 37% of the black population in its territory, sees this number grow to 55% in occupations in risk areas and on the outskirts”, she exemplified. “The distribution of impacts is felt disproportionately, so we can’t talk about adaptation without talking about climate justice,” she said.

Focusing on the solution, she pointed out some strategies. First, the need to include the most impacted people at the center of climate action, with development practices and policies that involve the knowledge of traditional and peripheral peoples about the relationship of people with their respective territories.

The second point is linked to the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs, which are the commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions assumed by Brazil at the UN) and the review of national adaptation plans, with the incorporation of climate justice as a guideline and with monitoring systems with popular participation.

Finally, she extolled the point is funding. “We are fighting for developed countries to implement the commitment that was made to allocate 100 billion (USD) a year to developing countries. We see that only 22% of these resources went to adaptation and that 72%, between 2016 and 2020, arrived in the form of loans, which is not effective in ensuring climate justice. We want the funding to follow long-term goals and objectives so that progress can be made,” Daniela said.

André Rocha, from Fundação Grupo Boticário, said that the organization is investing in nature-based solutions to help both in mitigating and adapting to climate change. Among the actions are the management of two private reserves that store carbon and biodiversity within their limits and contribute to regional resilience; the engagement of society, through campaigns and communication on conservation, oceans and tourism in natural areas; and the financing of cases and solutions for adaptation in the coastal region and working with ocean culture. “The Foundation proposes solutions based on nature as a way to encourage the use of natural infrastructure, such as linear parks, protection of city springs, aiming to conserve water resources and maintain the resilience and quality of life of cities,

Food Systems, Hunger and Syndemics

In the second round of debates, “Strategies and adaptations for the urgent transition of these food issues”, the global challenge involving food systems in the face of the climate crisis was addressed. Professor Aline Carvalho, coordinator of the Sustentarea project, from the Faculty of Public Health at the University of São Paulo, highlighted the importance of “a systemic view of this model of production and consumption in order to face this climate and social crisis in a coordinated way”. According to her, food systems go far beyond the food production chain, but involve all actors and connections between people and institutions and are linked to impacts on the health of people and the planet. She showed, with data, the inequalities involving food production in Brazil – the largest soybean exporter and the third largest corn exporter in the world –, and pointed out how this form of commodity production consumes many natural resources. In 2021, 64% of the soy produced in the country was exported, mainly as an input for animal feed. He also presented a study, carried out in partnership with the WWF, on the multidimensional index of sustainable Brazilian food systems, where 46 indicators were used in the environmental, economic, nutritional and social dimensions. Based on these indicators, the Brazilian states were classified into “4 Brazils”. In the Midwest region, states that use agribusiness are concentrated and that have more important environmental impacts from food production than the rest of the country. In the Southeast and South regions, the problems involving the use of pesticides and pesticide poisoning are much higher. In the Northeast region, the biggest problems involve the double burden of malnutrition; and, in the North region, there is growing food insecurity. “We perceive an inverse relationship between the economic and environmental dimensions, that is, the greater the economic development of these states, the lower the environmental score”, he warned, stressing the importance of family farming for the production of local food, for local consumption and for the food security of our country. “We have to seek to point out some ways to achieve a win-win or loss reduction relationship, in order to face these challenges effectively. In the Northeast region, the biggest problems involve the double burden of malnutrition; and, in the North region, there is growing food insecurity. “We perceive an inverse relationship between the economic and environmental dimensions, that is, the greater the economic development of these states, the lower the environmental score”, he warned, stressing the importance of family farming for the production of local food, for local consumption and for the food security of our country. “We have to seek to point out some ways to achieve a win-win or loss reduction relationship, in order to face these challenges effectively. In the Northeast region, the biggest problems involve the double burden of malnutrition; and, in the North region, there is growing food insecurity. “We perceive an inverse relationship between the economic and environmental dimensions, that is, the greater the economic development of these states, the lower the environmental score”, he warned, stressing the importance of family farming for the production of local food, for local consumption and for the food security of our country. “We have to seek to point out some ways to achieve a win-win or loss reduction relationship, in order to face these challenges effectively. the greater the economic development of these states, the lower the environmental score”, he warned, stressing the importance of family farming for the production of local food, for local consumption and for food security in our country. “We have to seek to point out some ways to achieve a win-win or loss reduction relationship, in order to face these challenges effectively. the greater the economic development of these states, the lower the environmental score”, he warned, stressing the importance of family farming for the production of local food, for local consumption and for food security in our country. “We have to seek to point out some ways to achieve a win-win or loss reduction relationship, in order to face these challenges effectively.

Letícia Turim, a member of the Carta de Belém group, spoke about the importance of talking about agriculture, given the diversity of practices, ways of life and impacts. “Food is not a commodity, we are talking about human rights. The right to healthy and adequate food is provided for in our Constitution,” she recalled. She stressed the importance of thinking about the role of agribusiness in the production of hunger and climate change. “Historically, violence, hunger, environmental destruction are intrinsically related to the production chains of agricultural commodities, because they are under a model of concentration of land, income, products, it is a model that is averse to diversity”, she highlighted. Letícia also pointed to the intensive use of machinery and pesticides – there are currently 1,970 pesticides released in Brazil.

Isabela Borga, administrative coordinator of the Agroecological Fund (FUA) spoke about the fund’s actions, based on a study on how Brazilian farmers are accessing land, carried out in 2019, in the southern region of São Paulo – an area with forest fragments. Atlantic. The study pointed to problems of access to land, among which disputes over arable land, vulnerability due to the change of leadership, among others. The fund raises funds for the purchase of land in watershed areas and their protection from real estate speculation and subdivision. Subprojects were created from the fund, such as the one involving the consumption group, which keeps farmers selling their products until they are able to buy their first land, the hunger emergency, raising R$ 40,000 to buy agroecological food,

Finally, Janine Coutinho, coordinator of the food and sustainable program at the Instituto de Defesa do Consumidor (IDEC), highlighted that it is not possible to dissociate adequate food and the right to food from its sustainability). She spoke about how much agribusiness is sickening populations and the planet. “Agribusiness continues to break records, but we live in a population where 33 million people go hungry every day in the country.” The IDEC representative cited a study, recently published, showing that 57,000 people die a year in Brazil due to diseases resulting from the consumption of ultra-processed foods – one person every 10 minutes.

Janine cited another recent study, prepared by the Global Alliance For The Future Of Food, indicating that, at a global level, despite 30% of greenhouse gas emissions being related to food systems, only 3% of resources are invested for the transition from these systems to more sustainable and fair ones. “It’s a wake-up call that requires some sort of negotiation with NCDs, as there is an urgent need for funding for the food systems transition.” She also pointed out the amount of pesticides present in ultra-processed products, which are on supermarket shelves. “Public health needs to be above commercial interests”, she sentenced, saying that the urgent transition to healthier and more sustainable food systems requires coordination between different actors, intersectoral action and a systemic view based on the human rights to adequate food. IDEC’s actions are organized into five dimensions: business (encompassing impacts of commodities on food sovereignty); supply (hunger and unequal access to healthy food); ecological (interconnections between food and nutrition security with issues of pesticides, present, including, in ultra-processed foods and climate change); health (especially with regard to the consumption of meat and alternatives such as meat from laboratories, plant-based products and insertion of insects in the diet); and governance (in addressing overlapping crises, such as hunger and obesity, ensuring the institutionalization of the country’s food and nutrition security system. IDEC’s actions are organized into five dimensions: business (encompassing impacts of commodities on food sovereignty); supply (hunger and unequal access to healthy food); ecological (interconnections between food and nutrition security with issues of pesticides, present, including, in ultra-processed foods and climate change); health (especially with regard to the consumption of meat and alternatives such as meat from laboratories, plant-based products and insertion of insects in the diet); and governance (in addressing overlapping crises, such as hunger and obesity, ensuring the institutionalization of the country’s food and nutrition security system. IDEC’s actions are organized into five dimensions: business (encompassing impacts of commodities on food sovereignty); supply (hunger and unequal access to healthy food); ecological (interconnections between food and nutrition security with issues of pesticides, present, including, in ultra-processed foods and climate change); health (especially with regard to the consumption of meat and alternatives such as meat from laboratories, plant-based products and insertion of insects in the diet); and governance (in addressing overlapping crises, such as hunger and obesity, ensuring the institutionalization of the country’s food and nutrition security system. supply (hunger and unequal access to healthy food); ecological (interconnections between food and nutrition security with issues of pesticides, present, including, in ultra-processed foods and climate change); health (especially with regard to the consumption of meat and alternatives such as meat from laboratories, plant-based products and insertion of insects in the diet); and governance (in addressing overlapping crises, such as hunger and obesity, ensuring the institutionalization of the country’s food and nutrition security system. supply (hunger and unequal access to healthy food); ecological (interconnections between food and nutrition security with issues of pesticides, present, including, in ultra-processed foods and climate change); health (especially with regard to the consumption of meat and alternatives such as meat from laboratories, plant-based products and insertion of insects in the diet); and governance (in addressing overlapping crises, such as hunger and obesity, ensuring the institutionalization of the country’s food and nutrition security system. health (especially with regard to the consumption of meat and alternatives such as meat from laboratories, plant-based products and insertion of insects in the diet); and governance (in addressing overlapping crises, such as hunger and obesity, ensuring the institutionalization of the country’s food and nutrition security system. health (especially with regard to the consumption of meat and alternatives such as meat from laboratories, plant-based products and insertion of insects in the diet); and governance (in addressing overlapping crises, such as hunger and obesity, ensuring the institutionalization of the country’s food and nutrition security system.

At the event, a film was also presented, released by IDEC, which deals with the global syndemic, the name given to the overlapping of three crises: hunger, obesity and climate change. In recent years, these crises have been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. “We are talking about one of the biggest challenges facing society and the environment, and the solution involves the transition of food systems – the way food is produced, distributed, offered, traded and consumed”, he concluded.

 

Group of organizations involved in carrying out the Panel:

– Iyaleta Research Association

– Greenpeace Brazil

– C40

– Boticário Group Foundation

– Climate and Ocean GT of the Climate Observatory

– Agroecological Fund (FUA)

– WWF-Brazil

– Center for Sustainability Studies at Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV)

– Brazilian Institute for Consumer Defense (IDEC)

– Letter from Belém Group

– Federation of Organs for Social and Educational Assistance (Phase)

– Institute of Socioeconomic Studies (Inesc)

The entirety of the two panels is available at this link .

All events were recorded and are available in Portuguese and English on the Brazil Climate Hub website .

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