How is climate change affecting Abaetetuba?
Climate change is affecting us in many ways, including health. Children, whose lungs are still developing, are particularly affected, and have started to experience a series of respiratory problems. Climate change also affects the economy. For example, my municipality relies heavily on agriculture, and both drought and excessive rainfall decrease our productivity. The changing climate affects education. In the past, schools didn't need air conditioning. Today, the heat is unbearable, to the point that children get sick in the classroom. In some areas we cannot have air conditioning because there isn't even electricity. Climate change affects city life in all its aspects.
What action are you taking to address climate change?
One key action our municipality is focusing on is environmental education. Climate change has become part of the children's curriculum. Besides this, we are working to better analyse climate impacts. We have created our own greenhouse gas inventory to understand the city's emissions profile and plan for decarbonization. This was possible thanks to the support of several institutions, including the European Union and ICLEI. We are using AI to collect the data. This technology has been crucial, because without indicators, it is difficult to know where to act and implement solutions.
What are the benefits? Why is it important?
With the greenhouse gas inventory, we were able to identify the highest risks for nature in our municipality. One of these is solid waste. We decided to invest in selective collection and were able to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in the landfill, while also improving the income of waste pickers. When it comes to environmental education work, we already notice how children understand and advocate for the need to live better with nature. Combating climate change needs to happen through a large-scale collective effort. We need to involve all governments, especially local governments, because that's where life happens. But it's important that we also involve civil society and the private sector, so that we can all work together to respect and take care of nature.