THEME: Climate Change
TITLE: International synergies to address climate change: participatory community organizing in Toronto and the Baixada Fluminense, Brazil
AUTHOR(S): Ana Louise Tavares Leary and Patricia E. Perkins
JOURNAL: The Global Studies Journal; Volume 4, Issue 3
DATE: 2012
TAGS: Climate Change, Water Governance, Equity, Social Resilience, Marginalized Communities, Policy, Green Jobs, Climate Justice, Adaptation
ABSTRACT: Climate change impacts mainly the vulnerable, in both the global North and the South. Framing climate change as an equity issue, this paper focuses on North-South commonalities in climate change organizing and community-based resilience development. Due to the authors’ experiences with several justice-oriented international climate change adaptation and water governance projects, our focus is on water-related climate change impacts and responses in marginalized neighbourhoods in Toronto, Canada and in the Baixada Fluminense region near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The paper includes an overview of equity issues related to recent extreme weather events in each area, government programs and policy responses, and grassroots progress with the local community organizing to address the resulting challenges. The final section of the paper reports on synergies, which have emerged through our international climate justice collaboration, and discusses common themes that we have noted in Canada and Brazil. Important themes include the crafting of creative organizing strategies and techniques, the creation of green jobs, the use of recreation spaces as flood buffers, the development of social resilience and political skills through community-building, the education of local officials about climate change, and the mobilization of financing for infrastructure renovation/improvements.
LINKS: To view the entire publication, go to http://gsj.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.184/prod.278
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Leary, A. L. and Perkins, E; 2011. “International synergies to address climate change: participatory community organizing in Toronto and the Baixada Fluminense, Brazil”
