Brazil’s Recife takes action to mitigate rising sea levels endangering city

Recife, Brazil, Nov 8 (EFE).- The Brazilian city of Recife, capital of the northeastern state of Pernambuco, is the country’s most vulnerable city to climate change due rising sea levels, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC warned.

In 2019, the ‘Brazilian Venice’, an urban city on the Atlantic Ocean made up of three islands, six rivers and over 60 canals, declared a state of emergency after a study showed sea levels were rising by 30 to 40 centimeters.

Today, the city with a population of just over four million is the 16th most vulnerable city to climate change in the world due to its geography, demographic and social inequality, the IPCC reported.

The report rules out the possibility that the entire city will be swallowed by the ocean, but warns poorer neighbourhoods, including the Brasília Teimosa favela, are most at risk and require immediate action.

Richer neighborhoods, such as the Ilha do Retiro neighborhood, home to the Recife soccer club stadium, have already undergone landfill.

The transformation from mangroves to urban cities started nearly four centuries ago, with the Dutch occupation of Pernambuco.

But some 360 years later, the landfilling by the Dutch came to the surface and it was found that they had used garbage, including organic waste, to fill the land.

This led the soil to crack, in some cases up to two meters deep.

Since the UN warning, local organizations are now trying to find sustainable solutions to stop parts of the city from sinking.

Initiatives include fattening the beach with sand and barriers made up of large stones.