When we talk about climate change, we inevitably come across two concepts: mitigation and adaptation. Climate change mitigation implies avoiding and reducing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere thus preventing the planet's temperatures from rising to more extreme levels.
In turn, climate change’s adaptation requires the modification of behaviors, systems and even lifestyles in order to protect our families, economies and the environment in which we live from the adverse impacts of climate change.
In a warming world, the experience of a different climate does not necessarily require a geographical; the climate is becoming our own environment. In the Amazon, for example, there have already been extreme temperature increases of more than 3°C compared to the 1960s in the northwestern part of the biome (in the states of Amazonas and Rondônia) and in the interior of Pará.
Climate change impacts on food security, water availability and location for housing construction. In addition, we are faced with emergent challenges, such as the need to combat longer and more intense forest fire seasons, manage potential outbreaks of previously non-existent diseases and encouraging urban development away from areas where we like to live, such as coastal areas and riverbanks.
Adaptation solutions vary from place to place, are difficult to predict and involve multiple compromises. Understanding local risks and developing strategies to manage them should be the first steps followed by the implementation of systems to respond to impacts.
Climate adaptation is not just about disaster management, but about investing significantly in preventing the effects of climate change on territories. Since 2017, the city of São Leopoldo, in Rio Grande do Sul, has been carrying out preventive work; which has spared it even greater problems with the heavy rains that have affected the state so much, as we have seen in the news.
In the Amazon, the challenge of climate adaptation is taking on urgent and complex proportions. Extreme droughts and floods, as well as forest fires, are effects of the climate crisis and demand coordinated responses at various levels of the federation through comprehensive public policies.
This includes everything from the integration of monitoring and disaster prevention initiatives, to the organization and training of crisis specialists (civil defense, firefighters, and others) and hiring equipment in municipalities. equipment in the municipalities. In addition, it is crucial to establish structures in municipalities most likely to be affected, assigning them specific responsibilities and conditions for implementing preventive measures and, in this case, the governments need to develop new management strategies, especially with regard to public finances
But what is the institutional capacity of Brazilian municipalities, especially those in the Amazon, to implement adaptation programs? Municipalities face other urgent development needs, which makes them even more vulnerable to extreme climate events. This underscores the need to include plans in municipal planning. It is crucial to incorporate these discussions into the debates of municipal elections in Brazil with urgency! We cannot remain at the mercy of impending tragedies without planned and preventive measures being taken.
