Impacts of climate change on popular and poor territories in the global south: coping strategies, resilience and financialization of Nature

• Grant number: 25/05346-0
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - Brazil
• Start date: August 01, 2025
• End date: January 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Pedro Roberto Jacobi
• Grantee: Pedro Roberto Jacobi
• Visiting researcher: Maria Carolina Maziviero
• Visiting researcher institution: Setor De Tecnologia/St/Ufpr, Brazil
• Host Institution: Instituto de Energia e Ambiente (IEE). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The visiting researcher's period at PROCAM/IEE-USP aims to deepen the debate on the implications of the environmental crisis in poverty territories in the global south. With the aim of strengthening the perspective on environmental and climate justice in the field of urban studies, the proposal aims to strengthen the dialogue between researchers from environmental science and urban planning/architecture and urbanism. The main issue is the investigation of power struggles surrounding strategies for confronting, mitigating and adapting cities to the impacts of climate change, and their social, environmental, economic and legal implications. In continuation, the aim is to understand community organizational processes using the idea of the Commons as an interpretative key, as local community actions point to other shared ways of life, aligned with the perspective of agroecological transition, solidarity consumption and the strengthening of associations as alternatives to development. Thus, the transdisciplinary debate proposed in this work plan aims to list the main theoretical and empirical debates involving the issue in academic circles. It then establishes some goals to be achieved during the period of monitoring the implementation of the Santos Climate Action Plan - PACS, a plan that established adaptation and mitigation strategies, guidelines and goals to address the climate crisis and socio-environmental vulnerabilities in the city of Santos. The document, prepared between 2018 and 2021 in order to consolidate the National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change (PNA 05/10/2016), was carried out in the context of the ProAdapta Project - Support for Brazil in the Implementation of its National Agenda for Adaptation to Climate Change, coordinated by the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment, in alliance with the German Cooperation for Sustainable Development (GIZ). The PACS guidelines were scaled into short, medium and long-term actions (2025, 2030 and 2050, respectively), defined based on its Climate Risk and Socio-Environmental Vulnerability Index (IRCVS). In addition, the Annual Operating Plan (POA) was established for the planning and integration of annual actions with definition of resources according to municipal budget laws (LOA - Annual Budget Law, LDO - Budget Guidelines Law, and PPA - Multi-Year Municipal Plan). Santos' monitoring is justified given that the city is among the two cities in Brazil with an estimated loss of 7.57% of its territory by 2100 due to rising sea levels, according to a study conducted by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in partnership with the Climate Impact Lab agency. Despite the alarming trend for coastal communities around the world, and the fact that the PACS was a pioneer in Brazil, it is still necessary to understand the advances and contradictions of the plan in relation to other ongoing projects. To this end, successive monitoring visits will be made to the Parque Palafitas project in the community of Dique da Vila Gilda, the largest stilt-house favela in the country, with approximately 26,000 inhabitants and no type of sewage collection. The visiting researcher will monitor the public hearings and debates surrounding the implementation of the project by the Curitiba-based firm Jaime Lerner Arquitetos Associados, whose total investment amounts to more than R$26 million for the construction of 60 housing units. This project has been the subject of numerous criticisms from researchers, in addition to being the target of recent investigations by the Public Prosecutor's Office, since the amount invested would be sufficient to rehabilitate - for housing purposes - the numerous empty buildings in the city center, in addition to promoting the consolidation of the occupation of the mangrove, with significant loss of this biome that can contribute to the mitigation of climate change. (AU)