CB27 and the seminar Resilient Cities: Community and Climate - Foundation Office Brazil
Event Reports
Day 1- October 14th
"The climate change is no longer at our door, but inside our homes." It was with this phrase that the Secretary of the Environment of Curitiba opened the Seminar on Resilient Cities. Renato Lima, who besides being the Secretary of the Environment of Curitiba also acts as UN expert consultant for environmental and natural disasters of the UNDAC (United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination), continued his speech demonstrating the importance of the seminar as a way to disseminate information and experiences on the issue of resilient cities. The mayor of Curitiba, Gustavo Fruet, was keen to stress that the environmental issue is directly linked to social and economic issues. According to the mayor "One cannot speak about the environmental agenda, without speaking about the social agenda."
The main speech of the day was given by David Stevens, UN representative of the ISDR, the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. The focus of Stevens´ presentation was the strategy of the ISDR to reduce disasters and their impacts. According to Stevens, the priority remains to reduce the risk of disasters by establishing means of alert to extreme events, by developing the understanding of the community, and by strengthening the effectiveness of actions. He pointed out that these priorities would lead to global goals such as reducing child mortality, the damage to infrastructure and the economic losses as well as increasing international cooperation. On the international level he mentioned the new plan for disaster risk reduction of Sendai, which was approved this year and the COP 21 Climate Conference in Paris, which mark 2015 as an important year for these points of discussion.
The commitment of the State of Paraná and of the city of Curitiba in terms of resilience was pointed out, as Curitiba was the first city in the state to commit to an effective action plan and Paraná right now counts 180 cities within a contingency plan. Stevens pointed out that effective action is lacking: "Brazil is very accustomed to deal in the moment of the crisis, solving immediate problems. We need to stop giving out fiber cement tiles after every hail storm. It is necessary to think more efficiently, for example by changing building laws and presenting an effective instead of a palliative solution." In the second panel of the day, specific cases of community organization were presented. Renato Lima presented the case of the city of Curitiba, while Nelson Franco, climate change manager for the city of Rio de Janeiro, had the opportunity to illustrate the example of the city of Rio, emphasizing the important work of the Operations Center that enables strategic planning of resilience.
The third lecture of the day provided an insight into Peru's experience regarding resilience and community participation in risk management, primarily of earthquakes and tsunamis. Pedro Ferradas, Manager for Disaster Prevention and Local Governance of the NGO Soluciones Practicas, reported that they worked on several fronts, such as public awareness, new construction technologies, recording systems for earthquakes and tsunamis, ratings, exchanges of experiences and communication and dissemination strategies. He announced that "the government has called the media to cooperate” and reported of the importance of the dissemination of information and of several successful national campaigns to raise public awareness. At the end of his presentation, Ferradas emphasized the importance to advance sustainability practices, but he pointed out that national commitments, such as those that will be signed in Paris should always be maintained.
The first day of the seminar ended with a lecture on the experience of local governments and resilience. Bruna Cerqueira from ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives), emphasized the increase of natural disasters which directly affected municipalities. According to Mrs. Cerqueira, it is necessary to train the communities how to cope with disasters in order to make cities safer.
Day 2 - October 15th
The second day of the conference started with a technical visit during which the Project Barigui River Conservation Park, the Guairacá Park and the Natural Reserve Bugio, as well as one the city´s “Sustainability Points” and the recovery work of the waste deposit Caximba were visited.
The CB27 Network meeting
Renato Lima, the Secretary of the Environment of Curitiba, welcomed the participants to the 13th regional meeting of the CB27.
Presentations
The meeting started with a series of brief presentations. The first to present was Paulo Timm, President of the Brazilian Institute of Municipal Administration (IBAM). In his speech the President of IBAM, a civil non-profit association, presented some of the institute's projects and also proposed a partnership between the organization and the CB27. The establishment of an online platform for data integration and public access of the CB27 and the creation of a local resilience agenda for the Brazilian municipal capitals were two of the presented initiatives. André Nahur of the WWF Brazil presented an overview of the climate conferences of the past years. In addition, Nahur commented on the fact that historically Brazil has had a proactive role and has usually supported international climate actions. During his presentation Mr. Nahur also explained that the INDC (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) is "a document that contains what each country intends to do in order to reduce and remove greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and in which all governments should be present to achieve a global climate agreement". Moreover, he presented the Brazilian objective, which consists in reducing emissions by 37% until 2025 and by 43% until 2030 based on figures of 2005.
Bruna Cerqueira from ICLEI was the next to present and gave an overview of the participation of subnational actors in the international climate conferences. Mrs. Cerqueira stressed the importance of greater participation of these actors and encouraged that the secretaries present at the meeting accompany the COP 21. Representing the WRI (World Resource Institute), Laura Valente presented the work of the organization, which was established to generate knowledge and technical analysis to stimulate informed actions in Brazil towards a low carbon economy. Mrs. Valente responded to the speech of Mr. Nahur emphasizing the Brazilian position with its INDC.
The project coordinator of KAS, Marina Caetano, gave a brief summary of the history of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Brazil and presented the environmental projects on climate and energy that the foundation supports.
Concluding the first part of the meeting, Andreia Banhe from the CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) had a chance to present the organization, which works with market forces to motivate companies and cities to measure and disclose their impact on the environment and natural resources, to then find ways to reduce them. She suggested greater collaboration between the private and the public sector in order to reduce CO2 emissions in cities.
Round table
After the presentations, a series of discussions on the role of subnational actors and a more effective participation of the same in climate change decisions were developed. Decisions taken on the national level directly affect the cities, and that's exactly why local governments should closely monitor the outcomes and commitments made at COP 21 in Paris at the end of this year. It was in this global governance framework that the eleven secretaries of the Environment present at the meeting signed the letter of Curitiba. The letter states the need to draw up inventories for emissions of greenhouse gases, as well as it calls for regulatory frameworks for the capitals. In addition, the letter calls to join financial and technical resources in order to avoid the increase of the average annual temperature of the earth by 2 ° C until the year 2100. The participation of a delegation from the CB-27 at COP 21 was also agreed upon.
The import role that the cities play in the implementation of actions necessary for sustainable development and for tackling climate change is undeniable. It is necessary to empower municipalities so that they can carry out these responsibilities, as it is the cities that are most affected by the effects of climate change. Also, the goals that the federal government commits to during the COP 21 are of no use, if the cities are in no condition to take the necessary actions.
Nelson Moreira Franco closed the conference by announcing that the Ambassador Everton Lucero, head of the Climate Division Ozone and Chemical Safety of the Foreign Ministry, has sent an invitation to participate in a preparatory meeting for the COP 21. Arguably, the invitation can be seen as recognition of the important work of the forum of the environmental departments of the Brazilian capitals, which has been developed over the past three years.
Day 3 – October 16th
During the last day of the seminar, Michel Pierre presented the experience of the Hérault (France) with climate change. Mr. Pierre presented startling figures about the possible increase of the sea level in this French region. According to the researcher, it takes scientific transparency, responsible choices and knowledge to preserve nature through technological innovation and long-term planning.
Experiences of the municipal capitals Natal, Rio Branco and Porto Alegre were presented by their respective Secretaries of the Environment. Mauro Moura talked about the current crisis caused by the flooding of the Guaiba River in Porto Alegre and presented the intensive structural control measures, which have been developed with the help of an command center. The representative from Natal, Marcelo Rosado said that the city, although small, has potential to grow, as momentarily only 40% of the state's population resides in its capital Natal. In his eyes it is necessary for the city to prepare for this potential population growth. Silvia Brilhante, Secretary of the Environment of Rio Branco, presented some of the problems in the capital of the Acre state. During the historical floods at the beginning of this year, one quarter of the city was under water, which made once again clear how necessary it is to transform Rio Branco in a resilient city. According to Mrs. Brilhante there already is an urban restructuring plan in progress.
In one of the last lectures of the day, Pedro Christ, from the Ministry of Environment, presented and commented on the National Adaptation Plan (NAP). The NAP is an instrument developed by the federal government in collaboration with civil society, the private sector and the municipal governments, which aims at promoting the reduction of national vulnerability to climate change and risk management associated with this phenomenon. The NAP legislative process involves the participation of various ministries, plus the Brazilian Forum for Climate Change. The NAP was made accessible for public consultation on November 8th and will be available for analysis and contributions until the second half of November on the website of the Ministry of the Environment.
