Author: Fernanda Miranda

In recent years, Brazil has seen fires and deforestation increase at a rapid pace and advance over several biomes. While the inspection agencies, responsible for curbing and preventing these problems, are being dismantled, funds to finance preservation programs are being frozen. This context has led the country to increasingly judicialize the climate crisis. That is, both political parties and civil society organizations have filed lawsuits with the Brazilian Supreme Court to try to contain the setbacks in the environmental agenda and protect nature and children.

– See also: Childhoods between screens and nature

In 2022, the Brazilian Supreme Court received seven filed actions related to the guarantee of socio-environmental preservation measures, in the so-called “green package“. The Alana Institute participated in three of these actions as amicus curiae (friend of the court), with the function of providing subsidies to the ruling body. It brought to the case records the voice of children, who are interested parties because they are part of one of the most vulnerable groups to the effects of climate emergency.

“In these more than 400 drawings and letters that we delivered to your Excellencies (Ministers), the children are unanimous in asking that nature be cared for and preserved. For us, from the Alana Institute, protecting nature is taking care of Brazilian children with absolute priority“, stated lawyer Angela Barbarulo, who coordinated the Climate Justice and Socio-Environmental axis of the Children and Nature program, from the Alana Institute, during her oral argument.

– Read also: Children tell the Supreme Court Ministers: give the Amazon a chance!

It is unusual for the highest court in the country to docket so many actions on the same topic in a single session, but the severity of the moment demands it. The deforestation rate in the Amazon rose 73% from 2019 to 2021, according to the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) linked to the Federal Government’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. Deforestation and wildfires have intensified, increasing air pollution and climate destabilization.

According to an Ibope survey, 77% of Brazilians believe that protecting the Amazon should be a priority. By docketing actions related to the environment, the Supreme Court shows that it is connected to the wishes of the country’s population and becomes an essential institution to curb omissions and pressure governments to protect our environment.

– Read also: Is it a climate crisis? Or is it ours?

Recover resources from the Amazon Fund and the Climate Fund

One of the lawsuits docketed by the Brazilian Supreme Court deals with investments in defense of the Amazon. A Direct Action of Unconstitutionality by Omission, ADO 59, was filed because the federal government has paralyzed activities and failed to make available the R$1.5 billion in the Amazon Fund, aimed at financing preservation projects in the Legal Amazon.

The Brazilian government has been making changes to the fund’s format since 2019, extinguishing the technical and guiding committees and preventing them from acting on new projects. For this reason, Minister Rosa Weber proposed that the Union reactivate the Amazon Fund and refrain from making new suspensions. The issue was analyzed this month by the other members of the Court and, by 10 votes to 1, the Ministers determined the resumption of the fund within 60 days.

Among the actions within the Supreme Court’s green package was also the Argument of Noncompliance with a Fundamental Precept, ADPF 708, which dealt with the non-allocation of resources by the federal government for the National Fund on Climate Change (Climate Fund) since 2019. In July of the current year, the majority of the Supreme Court Ministers prohibited the contingency of the fund’s revenues and determined that the Union must adopt the necessary measures for its operation, with the consequent allocation of resources.

Deforestation and dismantling of inspection

Deforestation was also brought to trial before the Court. Seven political parties and ten civil society organizations – among which was the Alana Institute – jointly filed the ADPF 760 in 2020 to demand from the Court the resumption of compliance with the goals established by national legislation and international agreements undertaken by Brazil on climate change.

Rapporteur for the case, Minister Cármen Lúcia voted for the Supreme Court to order the Brazilian authorities to present a plan with goals, actions and budgetary allocations to resume environmental control and inspection activities, as well as to combat crimes in the Amazon, by safeguarding the rights of indigenous peoples. But the final ruling on the matter was suspended by a request for examination by Minister André Mendonça.

The quality standards of the air we breathe

The Direct Action of Unconstitutionality, ADI 6148, was also heard by the Supreme Court. The lawsuit challenges CONAMA Resolution 491 of 2018, which establishes air quality standards. According to the lawsuit, this resolution does not effectively and adequately regulate such standards, being “vague and permissive” and leaving unprotected the fundamental rights to environmental information, the ecologically balanced environment, health and, consequently, life.

The Supreme Court did not recognize the unconstitutionality of the resolution, but determined that CONAMA should update the standard so that it has “sufficient protective capacity for air quality” within two years. If this update is not done, the country will have to use the air quality standards adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The Alana Institute, through the Child na Nature program, acted as amicus curiae in ADPF 760, ADO 59 and ADI 6148.

– Read also: Children and nature in the hands of justice

Brazil has also judicialized the crisis in the Pantanal

The climate crisis has also been causing imbalances to the Pantanal, an area of 150 thousand square kilometers between the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, which is home to the largest floodplain on the planet and represents a complex with great biodiversity. Targeted by fires and burning, the Pantanal has also seen its own crisis taken to court.

In ADPF 857, four political parties are asking for a plan and actions to prevent the fires that occurred in the Pantanal in 2020 from happening again in an aggravated manner. They contend that the fire, besides putting at risk a significant amount of wildlife species, advanced over indigenous lands and caused immense economic, social and public health losses for these peoples. The situation, they argue, violates several constitutional principles.

There are other lawsuits with similar objectives filed with the Brazilian Supreme Court. ADPF 743 and 746 have also been filed to force the federal government to comply with measures against the advance and the effects of the fires that are affecting the Amazon and the Pantanal wetlands.

Indigenous health in the pandemic taken to court

Faced with the lack of response from Brazilian institutions and the advance of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, the need for action to protect indigenous peoples has also been judicialized. The Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) joined political parties and civil society organizations and filed, with the Supreme Court, ADPF 709 with the aim of confronting the omission of the federal government in combating the pandemic and demanding measures to protect various ethnic groups. The action requested, for instance, the installation of health barriers in territories where isolated or recently contacted peoples live, in order to protect them.

– See also: Nature is health during childhood

Protecting the environment is protecting the future of children

The socio-environmental and climate mismanagement in Brazil has demanded strong actions from the Justice system, especially to ensure the protection of the rights of those most vulnerable. In this group are children and adolescents, who suffer the effects of climate change in an amplified way.

The analysis of such actions by the Supreme Court must be based on the rights of children and adolescents foreseen in article 227 of the Brazilian Constitution, which ensures their best interests and the absolute priority of their fundamental rights, as well as in article 225, which endows the right to a balanced environment with the status of a fundamental right. In practice, this means starting from a human rights perspective based on justice, respect for human and non-human life, as well as intergenerational solidarity.

“Protecting nature is taking care of Brazilian children, a constitutional duty, a legal rule, imposed on all of us – families, society, companies and the State – and, thus, the principle of intergenerational equity must be placed at the center of the debate when we think about our common future,” stated Angela Barbarulo.

– Read also: Alana brings the reality of childhoods in the face of climate emergency to COP27

The world is already experiencing a number of effects from climate change that affect billions of people. Extreme weather events such as floods, heat waves, and prolonged droughts especially threaten the most vulnerable populations. Furthermore, the most fragile party in this scenario is children, who see the climate crisis jeopardizing a whole range of rights, among which are the most basic rights to life and development. Boys and girls are classified among the most vulnerable groups by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s leading group of scientists studying the climate crisis.

It is in this context that it becomes clear that the steps taken globally to contain the effects of climate change are no longer sufficient. To ensure a habitable planet for children today and in the future, mitigating agreements, i.e. to reduce or prevent greenhouse gas emissions, are not enough.

This is because, although mitigation is an important and necessary action, the world will continue to warm even if we manage to stabilize emissions. The effects of the warming that has already occurred are real and are being felt by everyone around the globe.

This is why we need to go beyond mitigation and, in addition, embrace adaptation actions (solutions aimed at reducing damage, risks and finding opportunities) more vigorously. Anticipating the effects of the climate emergency that are already occurring and that will come in the future, as well as managing their consequences, are actions that can save lives.

We need to learn to live, for example, with longer periods of drought and heavier rains in some regions, which often cause disasters such as landslides and floods. We need to adapt to this warming world and protect the most vulnerable, such as children.

“There is an opportunity to engage in adaptation actions that transform urban infrastructure such as schools, for example, by using nature-based solutions that can contribute to prepare our cities in the face of the climate crisis, while providing environments where children can play, grow and develop better,” stated Bebel Barros, researcher for the Child and Nature program.

– Read also: ‘We don’t want to have children anymore’: the mercury must be stopped

The impacts of low public funding for adaptation

Currently, only 20% of global public climate funding is earmarked for adaptation. If this investment is not significantly increased, millions of children will suffer irreversible impacts that have already been triggered.

Brazil, for example, faces a high risk of river floods: under a high emissions scenario, it is projected that by 2030 more than 78,000 people could be at risk of annual flooding due to climate change.

These floods often cause drowning deaths and infectious disease outbreaks, as well as impacting food production and water supply. As for indirect effects, they can also lead to post-traumatic stress and population displacement.

However, we do not see effective actions being taken. The Legal Amazon, for example, one of the regions that most draws worldwide attention when it comes to environmental preservation, covers nine Brazilian states (Amazonas, Acre, Rondônia, Roraima, Pará, Maranhão, Amapá, Tocantins and Mato Grosso) and none of them has warning systems or permanent contingency plans for extreme events such as floods, droughts, forest fires and heat waves.

– Read also: Amazon is the most unsafe place to be a child in the country

A fund to adapt cities and homes to climate disasters

In view of these facts, it is essential to establish specific policies and funds to adapt cities, homes, schools and the entire infrastructure to possible climate disasters, as well as to allocate resources to recover the losses and damages from these events, especially in the most vulnerable countries. The matter will be taken to COP 27, to be held in 2022 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. The Alana Institute participates in the event with the objective of proposing agendas on climate justice and childhood at the center of the political negotiations.

– Read also: #KidsFirst Campaign at COP 27

“At this COP, advances in the global goal of adaptation will be debated and, for a possible fund for losses and damages, it will be necessary to guarantee specific measures for children and adolescents, particularly in the territories where they live, study and circulate, so that they are seen and are the first to be protected against climate disasters. States must place the rights and the voices of children at the center of their climate action to motivate urgent mitigation, adaptation and financing actions”, argued JP Amaral, coordinator of the Children and Nature program of the Alana Institute.

The so-called Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) was defined within the Paris Agreement with the aim of increasing global adaptive capacity, resilience and reducing vulnerabilities related to climate change. An adaptation committee has been responsible for reviewing the GGA and assisting member countries with actions towards climate adaptation.

In 2021, COP 26 established a comprehensive two-year work program between Glasgow and Sharm el-Sheikh on the global adaptation goal. This year, entities should demand new priorities from the program, such as focusing on social services that serve children and communities most at risk, as well as strengthening data and monitoring mechanisms to track or measure the resilience of essential services.

– Read also: “Nature is crying out, asking for help. We need to listen.”

Droughts, floods, heat waves and extreme weather events directly affect a broad spectrum of children’s rights, such as their right to health and education. But this need not be the future for children around the world. To change course, countries must put children’s rights and voices at the heart of their climate action, driving urgent action on mitigation, adaptation and financing.

Rapid emission reductions must still be prioritized, while capacity for adaptation is radically strengthened and measures are put in place to protect children and their rights, including in cases of loss and damage. Moving in this direction is positive for children and for the planet.

– Read also: New research shows children’s perception of the environment and climate change

Climate emergency is a children’s rights crisis. They are the ones who suffer the most from its effects by having their development affected and rights violated by consequences ranging from natural disasters influenced by climate change to food and water scarcity.  Representing one third of the global population, children will suffer the longest from the consequences of the climate crisis in the future.  And they already see threats to their hard-won progress in securing their basic rights.  That is why they need to be at the center of public policies to fight the crisis.

– Read also: Climate Emergency and Childhoods: for a Future in the Present

Almost every child on the planet is exposed to at least one climate and environmental risk according to a report published in 2021 by UNICEF, a fund created by the UN to promote the rights and well-being of children and adolescents around the world.  Overall, according to the document, one billion of the world’s children, which is about half of the world’s child population, live in extremely high-risk countries, meaning that they are highly exposed to climate and environmental hazards and stressors.

Children have the right to decent housing, but natural disasters like flooding are increasingly destroying their homes.  Children have the right to water and food, but extreme weather events, desertification and drought result in water and food shortages.

“As children are undergoing a peculiar period of development and formation, they are extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.  Extreme climate events directly harm a wide range of children’s rights, including their right to survival and development”, stated Lais Fleury, International Relations Officer of the Alana Institute.  

– Read also: The water crisis is a children’s rights crisis

To shed some perspective on the size of the problem, by 2030, climate change is expected to generate 95,000 more deaths of children under five years of age each year due to malnutrition, according to UN estimates.  

Meanwhile, rising temperatures are increasing the incidence of waterborne and vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue, fever and diarrhea. 80% percent of the people who died from malaria in 2014 were children, according to UNICEF.  

This crisis impacts children’s most basic rights to survive and thrive, consequently, reducing environmental risks could prevent the death of one in every four children worldwide, according to the UN.  The calculation takes into account a scenario in which these risks represent 25% of the total disease exposure for children up to five years of age.  It is, therefore, a serious global health problem.

In practice, we have also seen the effects of climate emergency threaten education.  If, on the one hand, extreme weather events are destroying schools, on the other hand, poor access to health and food affects child development and learning capacity.  In addition, there is the loss of family income due to climate stressors, which pushes children to help with household chores and to seek work, increasing the combo of violation of their rights.

– Read also: How climate emergency affects the education of children and young people

Children’s vulnerability in the climate crisis 

Girls, impoverished children, indigenous children, children with disabilities and other minorities are the first and most affected by climate change.  The emergency has further driven families to migrate, raising the pool of children on the move to cross borders, often far from school and subjected to child labor.

Although they are the group that contributes least to climate emergency, children are the most vulnerable to the effects of this crisis, whether directly or indirectly.  As they are less able to regulate their body temperatures on their own, children under five years of age will be more susceptible to heat waves expected to be so extreme – and to which 75% of the world’s population will be exposed by 2100, according to studies – that may even cause deaths.

Despite the evidence of the serious consequences of climate change for children, they are still barely paid attention to by the international and national structures working on the issue. 

In this context, promoting environmental education is imperative.  Children need to be supported to protect themselves from climate-related threats and exercise their right to be heard about policies and actions that seek to remedy harm.  They need to be addressed in all key climate governance structures. 

“To guarantee a quality education is to ensure that children, adolescents and adults have meaningful experiences with and in nature.  These experiences can occur through the school and its areas, providing conditions for students to love and care for life in all its forms.  From a contextualized, scientific and critical perspective, education, then, must address the issues that directly influence the present and the future of our existence, strengthening an environmental and climate citizenship to be instilled in a transversal and interdisciplinary manner throughout the whole school curriculum”, stated Raquel Franzim, Education and Children’s Culture Officer of the Alana Institute.    

Recommendations for the right to a balanced environment 

Aiming to ensure that the right of all children and adolescents to an ecologically balanced environment is guaranteed with absolute priority, the Alana Institute, through the program Children and Nature, contributed to the preparation of General Comment 26, a document that creates recommendations and guidelines for countries, companies and society to ensure the rights of children and the environment, with a focus on climate change.

These recommendations are published by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which is made up of 18 independent experts who monitor countries’ implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.  It is the most widely accepted human rights treaty in history, ratified by 196 countries.  

General Comment 26 has a number of warnings.  One of them is about the environmental racism that places children and adolescents from the global south among those most affected by the climate crisis.  The term refers to the urgency of addressing the causes, consequences and solutions to climate emergency from an anti-racist perspective.

– Read also: Legal policy brief: groundbreaking document broadens debate on children’s right to nature

The document also highlights the need to address the impacts of air pollution over this group, to ensure access to nature, food security and safe drinking water for all children. It also points to the need for special care regarding the rights of indigenous children and those from traditional communities, which is the group most affected by deforestation, fires, mercury contamination and climate change, losing their cultural heritage and their right to life.

In Brazil, deforestation and wildfires are among the main factors of greenhouse gas emissions and directly affect the health of children.  Peak burnings in the Amazon in 2019 have led to the hospitalization of over 5,000 children per month in the capitals of the region due to respiratory problems.  

Protecting the territories of indigenous peoples, in addition to preserving their history and identity, is also essential from an environmental and climatic perspective.  Aggressive action on the climate crisis is urgent or there will simply be no habitable world for children – now and in the future.

“It is essential that research is carried out and technologies are developed to ensure that people with disabilities acquire practical and social skills to facilitate their participation in education systems, work and community life”. 

Excerpt from joint statement by Alana and MIT, March 20, 2019

The Alana Foundation, Alana’s philanthropic branch created in 2012 and headquartered in the United States, will donate US$ 28.6 million to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), to encourage the development of new technological and multidisciplinary research. Part of this initiative is the creation of the Alana Down Syndrome Center; a technology program for the development of research that can improve the lives of people with disabilities; and scholarships.

The donation, formalized on March 20, will give rise to the Alana Down Syndrome Center, hosted by the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT, which will involve the expertise of scientists and engineers in an initiative to deepen the biological and neuroscientific knowledge of Down syndrome. Down. The center, which will be led by scientists Angelika Amon – an expert in understanding chromosomal instability – and Li-Huei Tsai – recognized for her work with degenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease – will also offer new opportunities for young scientists and students from around the world through scholarships.

The technology program will be in partnership with the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation (“Technology to Foster Skills”) at MIT, in which the researcher seeks support and encouragement to design and develop technologies that can increase the quality of life and autonomy of disabled people. Together, the center and the program will help accelerate the creation, development and testing of new technologies that aim to enhance the quality of life of people with disabilities and increase their participation and inclusion in education, work and the community.

Watch the joint statement from Alana and MIT:

 

The donation made by the Alana Foundation supports the MIT Campaign for a Better World, publicly launched in 2016 with the mission to advance MIT’s work in education, research and innovation to address humanity’s most pressing challenges.

The value employees with Down syndrome can add to organizations

The McKinsey&Company consultancy, in partnership with the Alana Institute, launched an unprecedented paper on the positive impacts of people with Down syndrome on the job market. The study, carried out in Brazilian and foreign companies, demonstrates that employees with Down syndrome can improve the organizational health of companies in five out of nine dimensions.

Aspects such as leadership, team motivation, culture and climate, customer satisfaction and coordination and control can be positively impacted when there is an employee with Down syndrome on the team. The results obtained were very encouraging and offer a new perspective on the subject, contributing to the elimination of barriers related to the employability of people with disabilities.

Click on the image below to read the full survey (in Portuguese):

• See also: Science and knowledge in the search for a diverse world