Year after year, news of floods and their consequences are repeated amid the lack of preventative public policies against this kind of environmental disaster. In the first weeks of 2024, the residents of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro – the two largest and richest Brazilian cities, according to the second 2022 Census by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) – faced material and human losses after storms.
The government's inefficiency in managing resources to create and implement preventative and mitigation policies can be seen in the numbers. Throughout 2023 in São Paulo, Mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB Party) didn’t use BRL 413 million in resources destined for Risk Management and Promotion of Resilience to Disasters and Critical Events. According to a survey by the Brazilian news site G1 with data from the Transparency Portal, only BRL 1,6 billion from the total of BRL 2,1 billion were used. The agency is responsible for maintaining the drainage system, besides monitoring and warning about floods.
Pedro Luiz Côrtes, a professor at the Institute of Energy and Environment at the University of São Paulo (IEE-USP) and coordinator of the International Network for Studies on Environment and Sustainability (Rimas), defends that authorities must act regarding the changing climate.
“It’s clear that politicians in general don’t understand that climate change is a reality and demand more intense actions by City Halls. Simple decisions that could be implemented without high costs at the beginning aren’t even considered,” he said.
Forgotten measures
Côrtes explains that, by knowing the most susceptible areas to the consequences of floods and climate and meteorological forecasts, fast and low-cost measures can be taken, such as sending text messages to residents’ cellphones living in risk areas indicating temporary shelters.
“It isn’t necessary to spend money on them. Quite simply, the Civil Defense of each city can ask cellphone companies to send a warning of storms to residents in certain areas, informing them about possible floods. It’s obligatory, that is, regardless of whether people want it or not. They will receive the message anyway,” Côrtes detailed.
About 12,000 people have been displaced in Rio de Janeiro due to the heavy rains in recent weeks / Mauro Pimentel/AFP
In the medium and long term, the professor suggests improving the rainwater drainage system, relocating populations living in risky areas and restoring these areas. Côrtes explains that "the oldest neighborhoods in São Paulo, for example, have a rainwater drainage network based on European or American standards". These models, however, are for a temperate climate, one without the heavy rainfall of tropical countries like Brazil.
The cemented streets and sidewalks caused the soil to be significantly waterproofed. With less water absorption, drainage galleries have intense demand. "Under normal conditions, they already have difficulty draining. Now, climate change imposes a new scenario. The rains are very concentrated, very intense over a period of time. (...) So it's necessary to maintain the constant service of cleaning and unblocking stormwater galleries and culverts; expand the capacity of this network so that runoff is made easier; and [implement] policies to increase soil permeability," says Côrtes.
Another example is the implementation of the Green Urban Property Tax (IPTU, in Portuguese). Approved by the Federal Senate, the legislation provides for differentiated rates in cases of rainwater use, reuse or treatment of wastewater, green roofs or renewable energy, among others. Now, the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution n° 13/2019 needs to be approved by the Chamber of Deputies.
"This would encourage [changes], for instance, [in] properties with permeable sidewalks and an increase in green areas. New buildings in São Paulo are obliged to have a rainwater retention box so that they delay sending the water to the stormwater system. We don't have a single solution to all these problems. We have alternatives that can be used and that are not being used."
The professor also talks about the need to relocate populations living in risk areas, "by creating safe housing areas, transportation infrastructure, education, energy, sanitation, to be able to effectively give an option to people who are in risk areas".
Côrtes says risk areas also need to be renovated. For instance, a hillside may need to be contoured and natural vegetation restored.
Environmental racism
The climate change discussion draws attention to environmental racism. In Rio de Janeiro, the rains affected several regions, including rich areas such as the south of the capital city. The most significant impacts, however, were recorded in the poorest areas.
The Minister for Racial Equality, Anielle Franco, posted on her X profile (formerly Twitter) that she was monitoring the impacts of the rains in Rio de Janeiro. So far, at least 12 people have died, 12,000 people have been displaced and 300 are homeless, according to the state's Secretariat for Social Development and Human Rights.
The cities most affected were Belford Roxo, Jeperi, Mesquita, Nilópolis, Nova Iguaçu, Queimados, São Gonçalo and São João de Meriti. "I'm following the effects of yesterday's [January 18] rain in Rio's municipalities and the state of alert for imminent tragedies, which is also the result of the effects of environmental and climate racism. Some municipalities in the state are already mobilized," said the minister.
Later, from the city of Belford Roxo, the head of the ministry said that "no measure will be fully effective until we think of solutions by placing the most vulnerable populations, mostly poor and black people, at the center."
In São Paulo, between December 2022 and March 2023, during the summer rains, around 300 floods were recorded. In the second week of January this year, the rains have already caused deaths, flooding, and falling trees. Congonhas airport, in the south zone, even suspended landings.
Geiza Izabel, 61, shows her house and belongings damaged after a storm in Heliópolis, in the city of Belford Roxo, Rio de Janeiro state / Mauro Pimentel/AFP
Rita Maria da Silva Passos, a member of the Brazilian Environmental Justice Network and a researcher at UFRJ's Urban and Regional Planning Institute, explains that environmental racism refers to practices and policies that directly and indirectly affect vulnerable populations in terms of environmental quality of life.
In this sense, the researcher says "it is necessary to look after the lives of people living in areas that are more vulnerable and susceptible to flooding, evictions, etc. There is a history of policies that are harmful to the quality of life of non-white people. This is environmental racism.” She adds that "the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon [located in a rich area of the city] is also below sea level, and the same thing doesn't happen there. In other words, there is inequality in the way these people are treated."
Edited by: Nicolau Soares e Matheus Alves de Almeida
