Brazil- Second National Communication
Project Overview
The creation of a National Communication offers countries the opportunity to contribute with technically sound studies and information that can be used for designing mitigation and adaptation measures, and project proposals that can and will help increase their resilience to the impacts of climate change. Activities generally include: V&A assessments, Greenhouse Gas Inventory preparation, Mitigation Analysis or Education, and awareness raising activities.The ultimate goal is the integration of climate change considerations into relevant social, economic and environmental policies and actions.
Key Vulnerabilities identified in Brazil's Second National Communication (2010):
- Semi-arid ecosystems
- Urban infrustructure
- Coatal zones
- Public health
- Energy and water resources
- Agriculture and livestock
Project Details
Key adaptation measures identified in Brazil's Second National Communication (2010):
Urban Areas
- Offer housing alternatives to low-income population that are currently living in areas of risk;
- greater rigor in compliance with laws of land use and occupation;
- development and implementation of urban design plans with a focus on urban and environmental comfort, which are not determined by decisions made in the real-estate sector;
- implementation of measures to mitigate rising temperatures(planting trees in cities, adaptation of buildings to tropical conditions)
Coastal zones
- Proposing municipal legislations for urban land use and stricter enforcement of these;
- implementing effective state policies for coastal management;
- land use planning;
- integrating programs and policies for managing water resources and for coastal management;
- directing federal action efforts: legislation, education,monitoring, early warning system;
Public health
- Improvement of programs to control widely disseminated infectious diseases across the country with high levels of endemicity and that are sensitive to the climate, especially malaria and dengue fever;
- reduction of general social vulnerability requirements for the population at risk of suffering health problems (infectious diseases and accidents , mainly by critical events), through economic, educational and housing policies;
- creation of early warning systems, coordinating the prediction of extreme climate events with vulnerability maps and contingency plans that also involve health care assistance
Key Results and Outputs
- Sustainable development and the integration of climate change concerns into medium- and long-term planning
- Inventories of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases
- Measures contributing to addressing climate change
- Research and systematic observation
- Climate change impacts, adaptation measures and response strategies
- Education, training and public awareness
Reports and Publications
Assessments and Background Documents
Monitoring and Evaluation
In 1992, countries joined an international treaty, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to cooperatively consider what they could do to limit average global temperature increases and the resulting climate change, and to cope with whatever impacts were, by then, inevitable.
Parties to the Convention must submit national reports on implementation of the Convention to the Conference of the Parties (COP). The required contents of national communications and the timetable for their submission are different for Annex I and non-Annex I Parties. This is in accordance with the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" enshrined in the Convention.
The core elements of the national communications for both Annex I and non-Annex I Parties are information on emissions and removals of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and details of the activities a Party has undertaken to implement the Convention. National communications usually contain information on national circumstances, vulnerability assessment, financial resources and transfer of technology, and education, training and public awareness.
Since 1994, governments have invested significant time and resources in the preparation, collection and validation of data on GHG emissions, and the COP has made determined efforts to improve the quality and consistency of the data, which are ensured by established guidelines for reporting. Non-Annex I Parties receive financial and technical assistance in preparing their national communications, facilitated by the UNFCCC secretariat