The disorderly growth of Brazilian cities in recent decades is one of the major causes of local urban environmental problems that currently exist. In this sense, the revision of the Municipal Master Plans is a great opportunity to create a territorial plan that establishes adaptation and mitigation measures to climate change in the local context and promotes a fairer and more sustainable occupation of cities for its citizens.
The fifth meeting of the Mandatos-C network: Legislative Leadership Alliance for Climate Action addressed the issue of Climate Master Plans, with the participation of experts in the area to share experiences and instruments with municipal legislators on how urban policy can and should embed climate action within them.
Luciano Paez, Climate Secretary of Niterói/RJ, presented the work of the first Municipal Climate Secretary and its main climate governance actions, which depart from the mission of building public policies integrated with society, universities and the private sector through initiatives such as the Municipal Forum on Climate Change and the Youth Forum on Climate Change, the creation of Committees and initiatives with the City Council, and various training and climate education programs.
Henrique Frota, Executive Director of Instituto Pólis, presented how Instituto Pólis has been working on the theme of territorial planning and how climate justice should be incorporated in the development of cities, not only for a more democratic construction of public policies, but also as a way to include central issues of social inequalities in urban planning. He highlighted that, for most Brazilian cities that are small and do not have the obligation to design a Master Plan, it is recommended to develop it for land use planning. In addition, even if the city does not have a budget or sufficient technical staff for the construction and/or inclusion of the climate issue directly in the Master Plan, it is possible to integrate it into the plans for solid waste, transport, sanitation, etc.
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