Climate Change
in Brazil
Students: Maria Fernanda N. Panão
Vitória S. Lopes
Teacher: Rosa Maria Sousa Santos
In the current
scenario of climate change, it is fundamental to understand how the climate can
affect every part of the world, especially Brazil.
In Brazil, INPE
(National Institute of Space Research) points to a substantial increase in
temperature and a significant fall in rainfall in large areas, including in the
Amazon rainforest, whose deforestation is what most worries us. The world's
forests store huge amounts of carbon, which released into the atmosphere when
trees fall or burn due to deforestation, which accelerates climate change.
Deforestation is the third largest cause of greenhouse gas emissions followed
only by energy production and industry and is ahead of the transportation
sector.
We need to preserve
the world's forests for all the services they provide. An essential part of
this process understands the role of forests within the climate system, which
is a major challenge for all of us.
However, how it is
possible connect economic growth with environmental preservation. Since the
agricultural frontier in Brazil has been expanding over the last four decades,
mainly due to the intensive use of knowledge and technology. As the
agricultural front expands the change in land use and occupation leads to
changes in ecosystems, especially in the Amazon. Deforestation and the
subsequent burning of biomass result in the injection of large volumes of
greenhouse gases that may intensify the changes already produced by natural
climatic variation. In addition, given the prospect of increased deforestation,
there are also the following threats:
- Losses in ecosystems
and biodiversity of environmental services provided by the forest.
- lowering of the
levels of rivers, affecting transport and hydroelectric power generation.
- Increase of air dryness
and favorable conditions for more forest fires risking the desert of the Amazon
rainforest.
- Humans health,
migration and trade.
- Effects on the
transport of atmospheric humidity to the Southeast of South America.
According to Carlos Nobre,
a Brazilian scientist, Brazil is an agricultural superpower and occupies a
prominent place in the production of beef, soy and sugar cane production, among
other products. Brazilian agricultural model has social and environmental
consequences.
Nearly 70% of the country's
greenhouse gas emissions in 2016 were the result of direct emissions from
agriculture and land use changes mainly associated with deforestation to the
expansion of the agricultural and cattle border. Unlike in other countries in
the world, where most emissions result from burning fossil fuels, in Brazil,
between 45% and 50% of all GHG emissions (mainly CO2, CH4 and N2O) come from
the production chain of meat and dairy products that should grow even more in
the future.
The Amazon Rainforest
plays an important role in balancing the local, regional, and even global
climate system with its range of ecosystem services that serve as a basis for
people's activities and well-being in both near and distant regions. Thus, any
change has significant consequences for the functioning of natural systems and
the lives of the people who use them. Understand that the Amazon works as an
integrated part of a terrestrial system and the risks of how this may change in
the future is a prerequisite for creating more efficient development
strategies. (INPE, 2011)
Soy bean plantation
in the forest area
The truth is that
climate change affects all sectors of society from the city to the countryside,
work and leisure, the daily life of each one of us. Therefore, strategies need
to be developed and actions prioritized to reduce vulnerability to climate
change.
Challenges and opportunities
at critical moments:
- Alternative
energies: wind, solar;
- Reuse and storage of
water;
- More sustainable
buildings;
- Education in risk prevention
of socio-environmental disasters;
- Effective adaptation
to climate change.
References
Risks of Climate Change in Brazil, INPE.
Reflection on climate change and risks to Brazilian agriculture. Carlos Nobre, EMBRAPA.
Para conhecer o resumo sobre as Mudanças climáticas no Brasil AQUI
