{"id":38482,"date":"2023-12-19T13:40:04","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T13:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/?post_type=noticia&p=38482"},"modified":"2024-01-03T17:15:41","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T17:15:41","slug":"understand-how-extreme-heat-waves-are-related-to-environmental-racism","status":"publish","type":"noticia","link":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/understand-how-extreme-heat-waves-are-related-to-environmental-racism\/","title":"Understand how extreme heat waves are related to environmental racism","content":"

The extreme heat waves experienced in Brazil, <\/span>the most recent from December 14 to 17<\/span><\/a>, have raised temperatures to higher-than-expected maximums. This is the ninth time that this phenomenon has been recorded in the country this year alone, according to Inmet (National Institute of Meteorology). The institute issued an orange alert for the heat wave, which indicates danger. It is activated when temperatures are forecast to be <\/span>5\u00baC above average<\/span><\/a> for three to five consecutive days. The forecast was for temperatures to exceed 40\u00baC in some regions. <\/span><\/p>\n

According to a preliminary report <\/span>published at the end of November<\/span><\/a> by the WMO (World Meteorological Organization), an agency of the United Nations, 2023 was the hottest year since 1849. Until October, the global temperature was 1.4\u00baC above the 1950\/1900 average, the result of high greenhouse gas emissions from polluting activities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the sun is for everyone and temperatures rise without discrimination, the possibilities for protecting oneself against heat differ depending on social class, race and income. It is the most impoverished, generally black, indigenous and marginalized groups, who suffer most from climate change, despite being the people who are least responsible for the catastrophic effects it has been causing.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is estimated that more than 1 billion people \u2013 the majority in the Global South \u2013 are at risk from extreme heat due to lack of access to air cooling equipment, according to UNEP (United Nations Environment Program). In Brazil, while 26.7% of white people have air conditioning at home, the proportion of black and brown people with access to this equipment is 12.6% and 15.3% respectively, <\/span>according to the IBGE statistics institute<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

This imbalance regarding who suffers most from the negative effects of ecological problems is called environmental racism. The concept was <\/span>created in the 1980s<\/span><\/a> by Benjamin Franklin Chavis Jr, a leader of the black civil rights movement in the United States, although traditional communities had already been working with this idea long before, although without using the same terminology. <\/span><\/p>\n

The term features in a United Nations report on race and climate crisis. In 2021, under the government of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil rejected the expression at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council \u2013 but this obviously does not eliminate the relationship between racial and environmental injustice. <\/span><\/p>\n

The situation has been getting worse. According to the WMO report, from 2011 to 2020, the number of countries facing record temperatures was higher than in any other decade. This has direct consequences for food security, displacements and migration.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSocially vulnerable groups suffer more from environmental destruction. Deforestation, river contamination and lack of basic sanitation have a greater impact on black, indigenous and poor people,\u201d said <\/a><\/span>Julia Neiva<\/span>, coordinator of the Defense of Socioenvironmental Rights program at Conectas.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the <\/span>sociologist Maria Rita da Silva Passos<\/span><\/a>, a member of the Brazilian Environmental Justice Network, there is a disproportionate burden of risk, damage and social and environmental impacts that fall on the most vulnerable ethnic groups.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among people who do not have access to running water, more than half (66%) are black and brown and 70.2% of those who live without treated water are below the poverty line (with an income of less than R$417.45 per month). The data are from the <\/span>Trata Brasil Institute<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

The lack of water in the home, especially in the bathroom, and the lack of sewage collection affects the health of this population, who more frequently suffer from diarrhea and vomiting, which affects their work and schooling, reveals the institute. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPublic policies that do not accept the existence of environmental racism end up reproducing this racist logic. It is essential to prioritize investments in basic sanitation in marginal communities, not only to guarantee social rights, but also climate justice,\u201d said Neiva.<\/span><\/p>\n

High temperatures and risk of heavy rainfall<\/b><\/h2>\n

As the rainiest season of the year approaches, warnings are being raised about the risk of floods and landslides. These tragedies mostly affect people who live in poor quality housing \u2013 most of them black people.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the CNDH (National Council for Human Rights), although the tragedies during these periods of heavy rainfall are caused by climate change and by social and environmental degradation, they could be avoided or mitigated by actions by the public authorities. Inaction is yet another manifestation of environmental racism.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey are mainly caused by the lack of infrastructure, planning and urban policies, which has been compounded by the economic crisis and the suspension of housing construction programs. This has resulted in an increase in the number of families living in high-risk areas across the country,\u201d <\/span>reads a statement from the council<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Global cooling<\/b><\/h2>\n

The climate emergency is leaving almost a third of the world\u2019s population exposed to extreme heat waves that last more than 20 days.<\/span><\/p>\n

And, without long-term structural changes, the immediate solution to combat the heat further fuels global warming: conventional cooling, by air conditioning, emits more than 7% of greenhouse gases worldwide. If the trend continues, this equipment will be responsible for consuming 20% of the world\u2019s total electricity output and could double by 2050, according to the UN. <\/span><\/p>\n

As a result, COP28 (Conference of the Parties), organized by the UN between late November and early December in Dubai, saw the launch of the Global Cooling Pledge. The conference is one of the events of the UNFCCC (Framework Convention on Climate Change) to debate the climate emergency in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

The objective is to draw up actions to achieve passive cooling, such as insulation, natural shading, ventilation and reflective surfaces, higher energy efficiency standards and reduction of refrigeration gases, or hydrofluorocarbons (that contain hydrogen, fluorine and carbon).<\/span><\/p>\n

If the recommendations are followed, the UN says, it will be possible to reduce CO2 equivalent emissions estimated for 2050 by 3.8 billion tons \u2013 CO2 equivalent is a measure that compares the emissions of various greenhouse gases on the basis of their warming potential. As an example, methane has 21 times more warming potential than carbon dioxide, meaning its CO2 equivalent is 21.<\/span><\/p>\n

Climate emergency and human rights <\/b><\/h2>\n

The right to a clean and healthy environment was incorporated into the list of human rights by the <\/span>UN in 2022<\/span><\/a>. The text of the resolution states that the climate emergency and environmental degradation are two of the most urgent threats to the future of humanity. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the same year, the Supreme Court<\/span><\/a> declared that the 2015 Paris Agreement \u2013 which lays out actions so the global average temperature does not rise more than 1.5\u00baC above pre-industrial levels \u2013 is a human rights treaty.<\/span><\/p>\n

The ruling was given in the judgment of ADPF 708 (Allegation of Violation of a Fundamental Precept No. 708), on the Bolsonaro government\u2019s failure to allocate resources to the Climate Fund, a case in which <\/span>Conectas is an amicus curiae<\/span><\/a>. As a result, the Court established that the Executive Branch has a constitutional duty to allocate resources for the climate with a view to protecting the environment.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese resolutions may seem abstract, but they are a catalyst for action, and they empower ordinary people to hold their governments accountable in a way that is very powerful,\u201d said David Boyd, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights and the Environment, <\/span>in a UN publication<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div>","excerpt":"

The extreme heat waves experienced in Brazil, the most recent from December 14 to 17, have raised temperatures to higher-than-expected maximums. This…<\/p>\n","author":26,"featured_media":38427,"parent":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"tema":[12279],"class_list":["post-38482","noticia","type-noticia","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tema-socioenvironmental-rights"],"acf":{"subtitle-pt":"","links_para_referencia":false,"author":{"ID":26,"user_firstname":"Gabriel","user_lastname":"Guerra","nickname":"gabriel.guerra","user_nicename":"gabriel-guerra","display_name":"Gabriel Guerra","user_email":"","user_url":"","user_registered":"2021-03-15 20:54:31","user_description":"","user_avatar":""}},"yoast":{"focuskw":"extreme heat waves","title":"","metadesc":"","linkdex":"59","metakeywords":"","meta-robots-noindex":"","meta-robots-nofollow":"","meta-robots-adv":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","opengraph-title":"","opengraph-description":"","opengraph-image":"","twitter-title":"","twitter-description":"","twitter-image":""},"featured_image":{"original":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/3482376-highres-scaled.jpg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/3482376-highres-150x150.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/3482376-highres-966x644.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/3482376-highres-768x512.jpg","large":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/3482376-highres-1024x683.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/3482376-highres-1536x1024.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/3482376-highres-2048x1366.jpg","post_slider_img":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/3482376-highres-350x233.jpg","storyform_xlarge":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/3482376-highres-1152x768.jpg","storyform_xxlarge":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/3482376-highres-1620x1080.jpg","storyform_xxxlarge":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/3482376-highres-2699x1800.jpg","noticia":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/3482376-highres-1140x760.jpg"},"terms":{"acoes_categorias":[],"acoes_tags":[],"category":[{"term_id":7,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":7,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":1550,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0","permalink":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/category\/news\/","relative_link":"category\/news\/","langs":{"en":"news","br":"noticia-conectas"}}],"post_tag":[]},"author_name":"Gabriel Guerra","author_nicename":"gabriel-guerra","protected":false,"langs":{"en":"understand-how-extreme-heat-waves-are-related-to-environmental-racism","br":"ondas-de-calor-extremo"},"permalink":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/understand-how-extreme-heat-waves-are-related-to-environmental-racism\/","relative_url":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/understand-how-extreme-heat-waves-are-related-to-environmental-racism\/","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias\/38482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/noticia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38482"},{"taxonomy":"tema","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tema?post=38482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}