Rio de janeiro and climate change

“What types of climate change mitigation and adaptation

policies are being considered or implemented in Rio de Janeiro?”

ISA 2013: San Diego

Development Project Case Study Author: Charles Laffiteau

University of Texas at Dallas

Climate Change: Rio de Janeiro


• Brazil is the host nation and Rio de Janeiro is the host city for both the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics.

• So based on the experience of China and Beijing with the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Brazilian national government and the state government of Rio de Janeiro are also investing large sums in the sports infrastructure required of host nations.


• Both governments will also have to make large expenditures on improving urban transportation and reducing air pollutants in order to mitigate the adverse impacts of urban pollution on the health and well being of athletes and spectators.

• But with the world watching, Rio de Janeiro will also have to beef up its disaster preparedness planning in order to avoid the negative fallout resulting from any catastrophic weather event.


January 2011- 903 fatalities


Young and Nobre observe that ;• Extreme events such as intense

rainfalls are a growing problem in many areas in the world, including the city of Rio de Janeiro.

• But Rio’s risk situations are also a consequence of a social process related to structural urban issues that are linked to political decisions.

• Problems such as sea level rise and flooding are expected to become even worse in the coming decades due to the effects of climate change.


April 2010- 292 fatalities


Sherbinin, Schiller and Pulsipher write that:

• “Although favelas have always suffered during rainy seasons, the paving of walkways has had the effect of increasing runoff to the point where water is often ankle or knee deep between houses”

• “Runoff from communities on steep hillsides are channeled down cemented watercourses to the coastal lowlands where they join canals whose limited flow capacity causes frequent flooding.”


• So what types of climate change mitigation and adaptation policies are being considered or implemented in Rio de Janeiro?

• On February 29, 2012, Rio de Janeiro’s Mayor, Eduardo Paes, addressed this issue at the 2012 TED conference in Long Beach CA.

• As hosts of the 2016 Olympic Games, Paes says that “we have (also) become responsible for using the Games to improve our peoples’ lives.”


• Paes emphasized “how challenging it was for Rio to be chosen the host city of the 2016 Olympic Games, as we had to defeat Madrid, Tokyo and Chicago, the latter supported by Barack Obama.”

• But Paes then goes on to say that by “following four commandments and adopting innovative strategies, Rio de Janeiro can be transformed into a more sustainable and socially integrated city.”


Paes’ 4 commandments for cities of the future are:

• 1) It has to be environmentally friendly,

• 2) It has to deal with mobility and integration of its people,

• 3) It has to be socially integrated,• 4) It has to use technology to be

present.


Paes cites Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) as one example


• BRT’s four exclusive lanes for articulated buses that can carry up to 160 passengers are currently being built by the Rio de Janeiro City Hall.

• Users will board on acclimatized stations, where they will buy their tickets and connect with the train and underground systems.

• BRT will allow Rio de Janeiro to increase percent of citizens who use high capacity public transport from the current 18% to 63% in 2015.


• As an example of how to use technology Paes describes the Rio Operations Centre as “a nerve centre where we monitor all logistics of the city, from waste management and traffic control to weather and climate-related incidents. Using IBM technology, a 250-km-radius radar and 560 cameras, the Operations Centre allows us to be present when and where we are needed.”


• Rio de Janeiro is also the home of the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim-Gramacho.


• Brazil is also one of the world leaders in recycling.

• 2nd to Japan in recycling plastic bottles• 4th in recycling plastic solids• 3rd in recycling steel cans• 5th in recycling glass bottles• Leads world by recycling 96.5% of

aluminum cans• But instead of house collection, most

is done by poor favela residents picking through rubbish piles


• Paes also says that the “favelas of Rio de Janeiro are usually seen as a problem. For me, however, they can actually be a solution.”

• Light (the Rio de Janeiro power utility), is working with NGOs on a program to establish and upgrade power networks, install transformers & meters, to provide favela residents safe, cost-effective power.

• This also documents proof of residence for ‘favelos’, necessary for getting a phone and establishing credit.


• But Light goes a step further by encouraging recycling within the company’s concession area with a program that gives favela residents money off their electricity bills in exchange for paper, plastic, aluminum, steel and glass bottles.

• This Program for Normalization of Informal Areas was made possible by a $200 million loan guaranteed by the World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).


World Bank is also financing the Upgrading and Greening of the Rio de

Janeiro Urban Rail System


• A US$600 million loan from the World Bank will create a better quality of life in Rio and a reduction of 93,700 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to over 25,000 gasoline passenger cars.

• But it will also finance the development of a sustainable transport strategy for the state of Rio de Janeiro, including reducing the overall carbon footprint of the system, and the establishment of a climate change natural disaster monitoring centre.


• One can thus conclude that Rio de Janeiro has taken a number of steps designed to mitigate climate change by both reducing GHG emissions and preparing for climate change related weather event natural disasters.

• But as Christoplos, Mitchell & Liljelund note “The political costs of redirecting priorities from visible development projects to addressing abstract long-term threats are great. It is hard to gain votes by pointing out that a disaster did not happen.”

Rio de janeiro and climate change

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