Brazil
The Importance of the Amazon
Amazonia has a prominent role in regulating the Earth’s climate, with forest loss contributing to rising regional and global temperatures and the intensification of extreme weather events. Climate change impacts in the Amazon have increased in the last 20 years, with rising temperatures, the extension of droughts and changes in rainfall patterns reducing smallholders' productivity and their earnings.
Given the importance of the Amazon in the global climate space and the inequality of access to climate finance, the VCA programme has been implemented in the Legal Amazon region.
It is coordinated by Fundación Avina, Hivos, the International Institute of Education of Brazil - IEB and WWF - Brazil, supporting 70 organisations, movements, and collectives, structured in 13 coalitions.
Our Impacts in Brazil
92
Subcontracted Partners
4
Local Climate Solutions Supported
200
People Impacted by Supported Climate Solutions
8
Policies Influenced
The Brazil Country Story
The year was 2021: Through scientific denialism and institutionalised misinformation, the COVID pandemic still killed thousands in Brazil. Thus, while democracy in different corners of the world faced threats, the global far-right attacked the climate agenda. Behind these clashes is a dispute between narratives for diametrically opposed development models. On the one hand, a predatory vision of unbridled exploitation of natural resources, individualistic and patrimonial; on the other, a vision of sustainability, cooperation, justice and respect for the environment.
In this context, the Voices for Just Climate Action (VCA) programme emerged in Brazil, led by a global alliance of six organisations. Our vision is a world where local, rural and urban Amazonian populations, especially women and young people, will play a central role in discussions on climate justice, proposing solutions and actions, and having their voices amplified and heard in decision-making spaces that impact their ways of life.
Unified by Common Goals
Throughout the programme implementation, VCA Brazil has been building and partnering with coalitions that bring together rural and urban civil society with a focus on Indigenous people, women and youth to amplify their voices and influence key policy issues related to climate change. In Brazil, 13 coalitions have been formed in different regions of the Amazon, each facing specific problems and proposing different but complementary solutions to protect the Amazon.
Striving for Change with our Local Partners
The VCA contracted partners continue to forge stronger linkages and collaboration. Working together, supporting each other, and developing long-term relationships allows the programme to achieve far more than it could achieve alone. Since programme implementation, VCA Brazil has grown its number of sub-contracted partners to 92.
The Brazil Project Profile publication highlights various innovative, locally-driven climate action initiatives implemented by our partners in Brazil.
