Second International Forum on Climate Change and Carbon Dioxide Emission in Cities - Foundation Office Brazil
Event Reports
Following the Second National Conference of heads of departments for Environmental Affairs of the capitals of the Brazilian federal states, which took place one day earlier, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation supported the Latin American Institute for Sustainable Economic Development (Instituto Latino Americano de Desenvolvimento Econômico Sustentável, ILADES) in hosting the Second International Forum on Climate Change and Carbon Dioxide Emission in Cities. The event took place in Porto Alegre on the 26th of April. During its course, viable possibilities in reducing Carbon dioxide emissions were presented and discussed.
The event was opened by a few brief welcome words by the representatives of the host organizations. On the expert panels that followed, the speakers shared their views on how to reduce Carbon dioxide emissions.
The federal deputy minister for cities, Alexandre Cordeiro Macedo, stressed at the outset of the first round of presentations the importance of expanding the public transport system as well as to improve its quality. According to him, such an undertaking could lead to the saving of 3.7 million tons of Carbon Dioxide per year. After that, Karen Silverwood-Cope, a representative from the Ministery for Environment, introduced the public to the national policies for combating climate change. She underlined the importance of acting upon scientific knowledge, while also taking into consideration the growing interests of economic actors in environmental issues. Only through such a combination of knowledge and environmental entrepreneurship the challenge of climate change could be faced. Other presentations included the views as outlined by a professor from the University of Texas as well as speeches by representatives from locally acting companies. They focused on approaches and methods for the monitoring and cutting down of green house gases.
At the end of the event, there was time for the audience to ask questions. The applicability of the presented case studies to the Brazilian reality aroused the biggest interest.
Media reporting on this event(only available in Portuguese):
