Climate change in Brazil

The greenhouse effect of excess carbon dioxide and methane emissions makes the Amazon rainforest hotter and drier, resulting in more wildfires in Brazil.

Greenhouse gas emissions by Brazil are almost 3% of the annual world total,[1] firstly due to cutting down trees in the Amazon rainforest, which emitted more carbon dioxide in the 2010s than it absorbed,[2] and secondly from large cattle farms, where cows belch methane.

[9] Researcher Emilio La Rovere, one of the coordinators of a report from 2013, said: "if nothing is done to restrict post-2020 emissions, Brazil may emit 2.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide as early as 2030.

[22] Not only will precipitation totals change, it may start to occur in more erratic and violent patterns, with more intense and prolonged droughts and more severe and frequent flooding episodes, varying in different regions.

This will likely result in major problems for food supply, public health, industrial production, trade, installed infrastructure, the general quality of life of the population and national security as a whole, with the poor suffering the most serious consequences.

The areas most vulnerable to major impacts are the Northeast and Southeast regions, exactly where most of the Brazilian people are concentrated, and large cities, which in general are poorly prepared to face the challenge.

As global warming also produces several chemical and physical changes in the ocean, interfering with aquatic life, problems are foreseen for national fishing, both by reducing stocks and by geographic redistribution of economically valuable species.

[citation needed] A 2008 study, directly inspired by the work of the IPCC, especially in the Fourth Report, was produced by Embrapa focusing on agribusiness and food security.

[49][50][51] Climate change in Brazil may also result in an energy crisis, since the largest percentage of national electricity is generated by hydroelectric plants.

[53] According to the Climate Observatory, This would have negative consequences in other ways, as it would encourage the use of coal and natural gas-fired power plants, which are major emitters of greenhouse gases.

A special alert was given in a 2015 report for the increased risk of extreme heat waves, mainly affecting the elderly and the North and Northeast regions, further aggravating pre-existing diseases, such as respiratory problems.

[54] In the floods and landslides in Rio de Janeiro in 2011, the greatest natural tragedy ever experienced in the country, 906 people died, 400 were reported missing, 30,000 had to leave their homes, 770 hillsides had their stability compromised, and will need to be reconsolidated at an estimated cost of 3.3 billion reals.

[57] In 2011, according to the UN calculation, floods throughout Brazil totaled 10 billion reals in material losses and claimed more than a thousand lives, in addition to leaving homeless crowds and producing disorders of various orders that will take years to be balanced.

[58] A report from 2013 found that the coastal region, where the vast majority of the country's population lives, should receive special attention, in view of a likely increase in floods, landslides, severe weather, coastal erosion, rising sea levels and other natural disasters caused by warming: "It is no longer possible, as a Brazilian, to accept more disasters that kill more than a thousand Brazilians at once.

"[10] Researcher Andrea Santos, executive secretary of PBMC, warned in 2013 about the likely impact on megacities such as Rio and São Paulo, stating that the current infrastructure, especially in transport and urban mobility, was not designed to face rising temperatures and more intense rainfall.

Global warming, combined with urban expansion and the development problems that Brazil already has, allows us to project a gloomy scenario for this century, in which the number of people affected and the cost of tragedies for the economy only increase.

Suzana Bustamante, one of the coordinators of Working Group 3 of the 5th IPCC Report, considers that the greatest threats hanging over Brazil stem from the expected reduction in rainfall in most of the area of food production and capture for hydroelectric and consumption, the country's strategy, both adaptive and mitigating, of investing in reducing deforestation must be a priority for the country, as forests are major producers and conservators of water resources, in addition to all the other essential environmental services they provide and all the biodiversity they harbor.

[63] Jair Bolsonaro has said that foreigners should stop complaining about fires in the Amazon,[64][65] and the country's environmental policies and in 2020 accused them of a "brutal disinformation campaign.

[68] It had the main objective of giving guidance to the government for the establishment of a more coherent and solid climate policy, focusing on the areas of health, water resources, energy, agriculture and infrastructure (coastal and transport), and using two theoretical models that were used by the IPCC.

It was also identified that despite the numerous mitigation and adaptation programs already approved by the Union, States and Municipalities, they typically do not leave the paper, or produce timid or marginal results.

[68] Analyzing the case of the emergency support structure in the city of Rio de Janeiro, it was pointed out that the majority of the resources for assisting the population (hospitals, military and police facilities, fire departments, etc.)

Vulnerability to natural disasters, along rivers and canals or in low-lying regions, which can easily flood, or at the seaside, subject to rising levels and coastal storms, and can be compromised even in small climatic events, harming their functionality and increasing impacts on society.

Port areas also present increased risks of deterioration or destruction of structures, flooding, silting of channels and estuarine bars and others, and a large part of Brazil's national and international trade depends on them.

[68] Suzana Kahn Ribeiro, president of the Scientific Committee of the Brazilian Panel on Climate Change, has a very similar opinion: "Brazil needs to find a direction, define what it wants to be when it grows up.

The United States Agency for International Development supports these efforts through initiatives focusing on biodiversity conservation, sustainable management of protected areas, and innovative financial instruments for nature-based solutions.

USAID's climate change program in Brazil focuses on leveraging resources from the private sector for biodiversity conservation and improving local livelihoods.

A report from 2013 aimed to dispel some ingrained myths that represent major obstacles to the general acceptance of mitigation projects, such as that progress and nature conservation are opposed, or that the consequence of reducing emissions will be economic recession.

Forest fires are both a consequence and a cause of climate change.
Brazil is among the countries emitting the most greenhouse gases overall, and also among the most emissions per person . [ 4 ]
Belches after enteric fermentation contain methane, and manure management may emit methane and nitrous oxide
Wood from illegal deforestation
Pressure from international agribusiness is estimated to have reduced deforestation for soya fields [ 12 ]
Temperatures in the 1880s and 1980s, compared to the average between 1951 and 1980. The interior of Brazil does not have much data available in the 19th century, generating more uncertainty, but in the areas covered by measurements the differences are very visible. The graph is an extract of a global estimate produced by NASA .
Wind circulation and rain production through the Amazon rainforest. Ocean winds penetrate the Amazon, are impregnated with moisture produced by the forest through evaporation, and this moisture is discharged as rain in several regions of Brazil and other South American countries.
Deforestation in Rondônia.
Smoke from burning along the Xingu River. Burning is a common agricultural practice in Brazil, but releases large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere and causes great losses in biodiversity.
Trizidela do Vale underwater in the 2009 flood.
Emaciated goat in Petrolina, 2013, in the worst drought of the last 50 years in the Northeastern Semi-arid. The Semi-Arid is one of the biomes that should receive even less rain until 2100, aggravating a chronic situation of water scarcity.
Empty reservoir in Petrolina, in the hinterland of Pernambuco , in the drought of 2013.
View of the spillway of the Itaipu Plant.
The 2012 Acre River drought allowed it to be crossed on foot. The Acre River has shown increasingly extreme levels, both in floods and droughts. [ 52 ]
Homeless from the 2011 flood in Teresópolis, state of Rio, in the Southeast region, which according to forecasts should start receiving even more rains until the end of the century, increasing the risks for the population.
Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (centre) announcing the intention to host the 2025 United Nations Climate Change conference in Belém .
Difficulties of urban mobility in the torrential rains of April 6, 2010 in the city of Rio.
Protesters at the Esplanada dos Ministérios in Brasília against the approval of the New Brazilian Forest Code .
Praça dos Três Poderes, in Brasília, in the dark during Earth Hour 2011, an international campaign promoted by the World Wide Fund for Nature to raise awareness about warming and environmental problems.
Environmental education since youth is essential to ensure the future of new generations.
Gaúcha March for Climate, Porto Alegre, 2015.
Ecological fair in Porto Alegre.