Understand the relationship between environmental racism and floods in Rio de Janeiro

You storms in Rio de Janeiro they caused 12 deaths and left more than 9,000 people homeless, 300 people homeless, streets flooded and houses destroyed. The tragedy brought the concept of environmental racism following demonstrations by government ministers in the face of the crisis experienced by the population in the state.

“When they say that favelas and peripheries are fifteen times more affected than other neighborhoods, it is not natural that in some municipalities, neighborhoods, peripheries and favelas they suffer more serious consequences from the rain than others”, stated the Minister of Racial Equality, Anielle Franco , in a statement published on his profile on a social network.

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“This happens because one part of the city, of the state, does not have the same housing, sanitation, and urban structure as the other. It is also not natural for these places to have the majority of their black population there. This is part of what we call and define as environmental racism and its effects on large cities”, added the minister.

What is environmental racism

The term, which has existed since the 1980s, is used to illustrate how environmental degradation and catastrophes – floods, droughts, contamination – more severely impact populations on the outskirts.

With the disaster in the capital of Rio de Janeiro and its metropolitan region, experts and authorities have used this expression to explain the uneven impact of heavy rains on the population.

“The concept of environmental racism has been the subject of scientific studies for decades. It aims to explain the way in which environmental catastrophes and climate change more severely affect politically and economically discriminated social groups who, for this reason, are forced to live in risky conditions” said the Minister of Human Rights and Citizenship , Silvio Almeida, also in a post on social media.

“It does not mean to say that only people from these groups are affected by climate events, but that the people who belong to these groups are more affected, for social reasons, by environmental events”, he added.

How environmental racism manifests itself

Scholars and activists point out that environmental racism is increasingly present in people's daily lives, even if they don't realize it.

The lack of basic sanitation, garbage collection, sewage system, access to drinking water and installation of landfills in low-income communities, places largely inhabited by black and brown people, are some of the manifestations of environmental racism.

Co-executive director of the Whiteness Observatory, sociologist and anthropologist Thales Vieira explains that another evidence of environmental racism is the exclusion of the poor from public policies.

“That's why we say that environmental racism is the product of an effective intention of not producing policies for these populations, of these populations not participating in decisions that are dealt with by policies that are actually made or not made. This is also a way of doing politics, omission is also a way of doing politics.”, said Vieira. For him, failing to produce public policies for the benefit of part of the population is, in practice, “leaving them for dead”.

The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, called for a modernization in the way of understanding and serving the population most in need of attention from managers. “Public policy needs to integrate new languages, which are capable of objectively naming demands, and environmental racism is one of the realities that needs to be faced. Extreme weather events affect the entire population, but it is a fact that black people, women, children, young people and the elderly are most severely affected.”