Brazil
Climate change impacts
It takes only 87 days for the average Canadian to produce as much greenhouse gases as the average Brazilian will produce over the course of the entire year. Therefore, March 28th (87 days into the year) is "Climate Change Impacts in Brazil Day."
As a result of climate change, Brazil is expecting an increase of extreme weather events. This change may have already started, as Southern Brazil’s first ever recorded hurricane - Hurricane Catarina - occurred in 2004. Other climate change impacts include temperature increases, a decrease of water in soils, tropical forests turning into savannah, farmland turning to desert, and salinization of farmland.
For more information on these climate change impacts, see the section on Brazil in the Friends of the Earth International report, 'Climate Change: Voices from communities affected by climate change'.
Story
"My name is Marlene Rêgo Rocha. I was born and raised in the village of Igarapé do Costa. With around 80 families, the village is located near the margins of the Amazonas River and sees only two seasons throughout the year: winter, when it pours and summer, the dry season.
Growing foodstuff here has become very difficult since the wet season strikes the region too early and evermore strongly. There is not enough time to plant and harvest anything.
It was not always like this. When I was young, I used to work in the fields with my mother. We used to plant cassava and jute. With the cassava, we used to make flour and with the jute, packaging. We used to sell all products right here in the community. Our family and many others lived on these products."
You can continue reading Marlene's story at WWF's Climate Witness page.
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