Declaração do Brasil no evento paralelo "Cidades Resilientes - Urbanização e Ação Climática" do Fórum Político de Alto Nível sobre Desenvolvimento Sustentável - 08 de julho de 2024 (texto em inglês)

Statement by Brazil at the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development 
Side-event "Resilient Cities – Urbanization and Climate Action"
July 8th, 2024

Dear organizers,

Dear guests,

I thank Malaysia for the invitation to this important event. Our countries have a history of important and productive dialogue on sustainable urbanization, including through the former Executive Director of Habitat, Mrs. Maimunah Mohd Shariff, who is a dear friend of Brazil. We are confident that under its new leadership, Habitat will continue and strengthen its partnerships with both our countries.

The issue before us today could not be more timely for Brazil. As you know, earlier this year, the state of Rio Grande do Sul was severely affected by floods, in a typical demonstration of extreme weather events that climate change is making more frequent. Although the number is still changing, the estimates indicate that 95% of the almost 500 cities in the State were somehow affected. More than 170 people lost their lives and approximately 630 thousand lost access to their homes. All tragic consequences of climate change in urban settings.

However, this event is also timely for other reasons. In the wake of the tragedy in the south of Brazil, President Lula gave a clear guidance: it is time to change our approach from disaster response to disaster prevention across the board, including in urban planning.

In May of this year, our Congress is making its part. It passed the bill on the National Law for Climate Change Adaptation Plans, which was signed by the president two weeks ago.

This new law gives guidelines for cities and states to include risk management related to climate change in their development plans and sectorial policies.

According to those guidelines, climate change adaptations plans must ensure adequate implementation of designed strategies, particularly in areas such as urban infrastructure and housing, transportation, health and education and food security and nutrition. The law also stipulates the integration of adaptation plans among different levels of government in a manner aligned with the National Determined Contributions presented under the UNFCCC and its Paris Agreement.

This is a huge step forward in our efforts to promote sustainable urbanization and adequate urban planning. Cities that still do not have adaptation plans will be urged to do so, whereas those that already presented them will now need to revise them according to national standards.

However, as the title of this panel suggests, our efforts to build resilience and fight climate change must be multidimensional. Therefore, until every city has its adaptation plan established and implemented, we must work with other tools to manage the risks of extreme weather events.

That brings me to a second type of policy that Brazil has been dedicating particular attention to: early-warning systems. Last May, our G20 Presidency organized a meeting of the Working Group on Disaster Risk Reduction to explore options to reinforce the efficiency of such systems.

In Brazil, every person with a cell phone can sign up to receive Public Warnings related to disasters through a chat application. This type of policy can be effective not only to save lives, but also to avert the worst damages to civilian infrastructure.

That is why, in line with the initiative “Early Warnings for All” of the Secretary-General, Brazil has defined the promotion of global coverage of early-warning systems and of disaster and climate-resilient infrastructure as its priorities on disaster risk reduction for this year.

To conclude, I would like to emphasize that, though my presentation focused on how to reduce the risks of climate change in cities, we must also seize the opportunities that cities give us. Increasingly connected cities allow governments to better collect data on urban climate, such as the effects of parks and green spaces on microclimates and carbon capture, and use them to generate better public policies. Climate change is indeed a challenge for cities; but cities can also provide solutions for climate change.

I thank you.