Analysis of the Brazilian contribution to the reports of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) with a focus on Impacts, adaptations and vulnerabilities in Brazil
The objective of this work is to comparatively analyze the five IPCC assessment reports, focusing on Working Group II – Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability for Brazil. Specifically, the evolution of Brazilian research published in the reports were analyzed and presented, its notoriety and contribution to highlighting the risks of impacts, vulnerabilities and adaptations of Brazilian systems for the following components: Hydrology and Freshwater Resources and Human Settlements. The research used historical and comparative methods to present the advances of Brazilian research. The results obtained include analyzes of the first (FAR), second (SAR) and third (TAR), fourth (AR4) and fifth (AR5) IPCC report. For the Water Resource and Freshwater Resource component, while in the FAR the emphasis was on deforestation in the Amazon and how this would influence the hydrological cycle and the intensity of rainfall in this region, in the TAR the influence of El Niño and La Niña and global warming on hydrological behaviour to contextualize future changes to seasonal flow behaviour across the Amazon and droughts in the northeast. For AR4 and AR5, a more robust number of surveys was evidenced, due to an improvement in climate models. In AR4, research has shown that in the last 50 years, relevant deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon and fires have aggravated the region's desertification, as well as local water stress. On the other hand, extremes in the South and Southeast regions of Brazil have increased, generating more intense rains and floods after prolonged droughts with impacts on the health of populations. In AR5, research emphasized the increase in extreme events of heavy precipitation, rainfall above 50 mm increased fivefold in the period from 2000 to 2010 in São Paulo, since the 2000s, generating more impacts on health and agriculture, highlighting the high vulnerability of Brazilian megacities. In the Amazon, the delay in the rainy season generated impacts on water resources. For the Human Settlement component, Brazilian research throughout the three reports progresses to TAR for a socioeconomic and risk analysis, where urban structures gain greater analysis due to their vulnerability and susceptibility to climate change. The study of human health is included in terms of pollution problems, vector transmission, possible problems faced by favelas due to overcrowding, and greater attention is given to cities, taking Rio de Janeiro as an example. The concept of “sustainable cities” taking as an example Curitiba-PR (Brazil) is suggested as existing conditions of adaptive response in terms of coping with the impacts of climate change. In AR4 and AR5 and with a much wider range of research, urban centres are highlighted, and the combined effects of climate change impacts on Brazilian cities represent increasing challenges for risk management. As a result, endemic diseases have re-emerged because they are sensitive to a changing climate. We conclude that the literature not only contributed to the international knowledge of the impacts on water systems and human settlements in Brazil but also allowed a much wider range of ramifications of research to be carried out in the country and that the knowledge acquired could help to develop government responses to climate change adaptation throughout the 21st century.