Vulnerabilidade social e mudanças climáticas : o papel das cidades no enfrentamento das questões do clima

Abstract

Daily, in Brazil and in the world, extreme weather events make headlines. Storms, floods and fires of great magnitude cause financial losses to millions and, mainly, affect and sometimes even reap the lives of populations, especially the poorest. The international community is aware of the latest alarming reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - IPCC - called upon countries, during the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 25), to adopt urgent measures in favor of climate balance. However, no consensus was reached and decision-making was postponed to the near future. Despite the failure of nations to address climate emergencies, cities have played a significant role in implementing public policies that address local mitigation and adaptation actions to increase the resilience capacity of their urban centers. These attempts to mitigate the impacts make sense since the risks, vulnerabilities and impacts associated with climate change become increasingly significant as the population grows. In Brazil, issues related to cities and climate change are still very incipient. The study now presented aims to investigate how Brazilian cities have responded to the challenge of climate change in order to minimize the social vulnerability of their population. To support the research, a theoretical review of the discussion on climate change, cities and vulnerability was carried out. Besides, a detailed survey of the actions/measures of mitigation and adaptation in progress or already done was carried out. Having it hosted the event ECO92, the city of Rio de Janeiro was taken here as a representative of the concerns and actions regarding the climate issue. The mapping of the main climate actions implemented or in progress demonstrates the commitment and interest of different managers in designing a new path of growth, more sustainable and equitable. However, the effective implementation of a climate action plan requires in addition to the formulation of environmental laws or policies, its real monitoring so that actions and their results do not exist merely on paper.