Rio de Janeiro's Initiatives
Rio de Janeiro was one of the first cities in the country to define a Municipal Policy of Climate Change and Sustainable Development, establishing goals for reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases in the years to come: up to 8% in 2012, up to 16% in 2016, and up to 20% in 2020.
These goals were set based on the emissions registered in 2005 by the Emissions of Greenhouse Effect Gases Inventory created by the Municipal Secretariat of the Environment (SMAC) jointly with the Alberto Luiz Coimbra Engineering Institute of Post-Graduation Courses and Research (COPPE), linked to the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Such goals will be properly controlled once the monitoring system of greenhouse gases becomes operational in 2012.
The Carioca Forum of Climate Change and Sustainable Development was also created by a decree. It includes representative segments of public administration, private sector and civil society, whose objective is to contribute to the search for feasible solutions for the implementation of public policies, aiming at reducing and combating climate effects on the city.
The SMAC, jointly with INPE (the National Institute for Space Research), created the Map of Vulnerabilities of the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro, which identifies impacts on environment and the respective socio-economic vulnerabilities and vulnerabilities of the natural systems.
The current municipal government has been making efforts to place Rio de Janeiro at the top in terms of regulatory framework in the area of climate change: a set of laws, decrees and resolutions that constitute constitute the legal and administrative framework of the public policies directed at climate change.
Source: Rio de Janeiro City Hall
Image: Pedro Schuman
