Niterói takes another step towards building a more sustainable and resilient city. Last Friday, February 12th, Mayor Axel Grael published Decree 13.904/2021, which creates the Municipal Secretariat for Climate. The new secretariat will... To oversee the prevention and mitigation of damage related to climate change in the municipality and will need to interact with the departments of Environment, Urban Planning, Civil Defense, Mobility, and Education.

“"The climate agenda deserves its own management considering its complexity and the scale of its approach, which is eminently planetary, although it unfolds in local actions. Could the topic be within the government's environmental area? Yes, it could, just as it could be in several other areas, such as Civil Defense, Science and Technology, etc. But a government with the commitment we have to sustainability needs to highlight the climate issue and place it on an equal footing with other topics. It is also important to remember that the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – IPCC, created by the World Meteorological Organization (of the UN), and other reliable international sources, always warn that one of the greatest concerns about climate problems should be the fact that it affects everyone, but especially the poorest population, usually more vulnerable due to the precariousness of infrastructure and services in most cities. Therefore, it is also a social agenda. Climate change puts food production itself at risk, and Brazil is one of the most illustrative cases of this risk: deforestation in the Amazon affects the rainfall patterns of the Central-West, Southeast, and Southeastern regions." "The south of the country, precisely the areas with the highest agricultural production. Therefore, the climate is also an economic issue and a matter of survival for our species," declared the mayor.

The new department will be responsible for structuring and advancing the municipal climate agenda, working across all areas of government. Professor and environmentalist Luciano Paez, from the Green Party, will lead the department and the creation of the Municipal Climate Policy.

“"It is common knowledge that our planet is undergoing major transformations. And climate change is so real that it can no longer remain on the agenda of only select groups in cities around the world. Climate change generates a series of very serious environmental consequences. It is possible to see that society in general associates the consequences of the planet's rising temperature with the rise in sea level resulting from the melting of glaciers, but the association of the problems brought about by climate change needs to descend to the local level. City residents need to participate in the very important changes that are coming. Prevention, adaptation and mitigation policies must be created, and their success depends on everyone's involvement. The Municipal Climate Secretariat of Niterói will be this public agent promoting and executing policies capable of mitigating current problems. It will concentrate the coordination of high-impact actions in the Niterói territory, thinking about today and tomorrow, and above all, it will call on society to build this future collectively. Mayor Axel Grael brings the opportunity for Niterói (RJ) to experience public management." Integrated, participatory, but decentralized. Respecting the responsibilities of each department, the Climate department will help to debate and build concrete policies in conjunction with the Environment, Urban Planning, Civil Defense, Economic and Social Development, and other departments,” explained the secretary. 

Luciano Paez also said that the Climate Secretariat will seek resources at the national and international levels in order to implement water security for Niterói, supporting reforestation programs, nature-based services, and the recovery of the eastern basin of Guanabara Bay, a region that provides water for the city's supply. “The department will support the restructuring of public transportation, increasingly encouraging the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through new, more efficient solutions. It will also strengthen the policy of implementing bike lanes and promoting cycling. The reduction of greenhouse gases will also bring the issue of solid waste to the department's agenda. The department's governance structure will allow it to provide technical support for the development of municipal climate change guidelines and will coordinate the integration of these guidelines with other municipal plans. And these local actions will be in line with international debates and will respect the decisions of the main environmental institutions on the planet,” he concludes.