How does climate change affect Latin American cities?
hace 11 year
March 27, 2015
Cities are the cradle of climate change. At present, cities emit approximately 70% of the world's greenhouse gases (GHG) and the United States, China and India are the countries that are home to the cities that contribute most to global warming.
In Latin America, Sao Paulo and Mexico City are the largest GHG producers, according to a study by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). In addition, 73% of the region's population lives in coastal areas, making them vulnerable to the effects of climate change and exposed to flooding due to the increased frequency and intensity of extreme hydro-climatic events and rising sea levels. The same percentage of the population also lacks clean public transportation and therefore faces serious problems in their quality of life.
Mónica Araya, executive director of Nivela, argues that climate change can affect a city in different ways.
“Something basic that we must bear in mind is that populations must learn to see the connections. The effects of climate change are intertwined with our daily lives and in Latin America those cities whose electricity comes from hydroelectric sources will be vulnerable; in addition, there may be a decrease in the volume of dams that feed a city. This generates supply problems, as there is less electricity available for a growing population of homes and businesses, and, in general, people opt for short-term decisions to generate electricity, such as the use of fossil fuels”.”, refers.
Problems in Latin American cities
The IDB study reveals that urbanization and environmental degradation are two major challenges facing the region. Latin America currently faces enormous challenges in water and sanitation, solid waste and environmental quality. Less than 15% of wastewater is treated for disposal and only 2.2% of solid waste is recycled; in addition, storms, floods, earthquakes and droughts are the main phenomena that populations must deal with.
Santiago Mejía Dugand, an expert in Environmental Management and Technology at La Ciudad Verde, argues that cities face a tenacious problem: that of climate refugees.
“Peasants or people from the coast, affected by climate change, migrate to the cities under the impression that they will be able to improve their standard of living. In Latin American countries these phenomena of uncontrolled migration, although for other reasons, have had very complex effects on the ability of governments to maintain adequate living standards.”, he emphasizes.
Management, renewable energy and adaptation
In view of the environmental problems facing the region as a result of climate change, Mónica Araya argues that land use planning and long-term urban planning are two points to be taken into account in order to adapt the populations seriously, in addition to involving the groups.
“It is a vital condition that Santiago, Johannesburg or Tianjin take planning seriously; in addition, in Latin America we need to help create citizen collectives focused on specific issues that affect the city, understand people's priorities and work on climate change agendas that are closely linked to those issues. For example, citizen surveys in Chile and Costa Rica agree that air pollution is a priority, and it is a great opportunity to work on the citizen agenda in favor of clean and decent transportation: it reduces congestion, pollution, noise and also helps to lower the country's carbon emissions because it burns less gasoline. We must also work with banks that can generate lines of credit for buildings and transportation companies that want to convert to lower emissions, or to increase resilience to the impacts of climate change”.”, he said.
Cities can adapt in different ways to climate change, preparing for disasters that may occur and generating plans to deal with them.
“Cities such as Medellin, in Colombia, have begun to talk about resilience, the ability to recover after devastating events, not only natural, but also social. To this end, they have created resilience offices. Another way to adapt is through the use of technology, some coastal cities can use floodgate systems that help reduce the erosive effect of the sea, more resistant constructions and better planning of new growth areas. Reforestation is also an option, since planting trees on hillsides reduces erosion and helps regulate the amount of water flowing into the valleys, as well as absorption into the subsoil,” says Santiago Mejía.
For the expert, it is necessary to stop depending on fossil fuels.
“It must be very clear that climate change cannot realistically be slowed. We have already passed the point of no return, considering how complex our society is and the dependence we have on fossil fuels for our jobs, food and transportation; therefore, it is necessary to fight to surpass even more catastrophic levels. The greatest contribution to climate change is the use of fossil fuels, so the logical thing to do is to reduce their consumption,” he concludes.
Image credit: André Deak
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