A survey conducted with Brazilian internet users from ten capitals investigated how they perceive climate change. The most urgent impacts, such as excessive heat and air pollution, were the most cited by respondents.
From the questionnaire, conducted by the Instituto Cidades Sustentáveis and answered by 3,500 people, it was observed that the main problems presented vary according to the respondents’ city. Thus, 71% of paulistanos consider air pollution the most serious environmental problem, while 60% of Porto Alegre residents and 45% of Belo Horizonte residents chose floods as the biggest problem.
Noise pollution was a highlight for 44% of soteropolitanos (Salvador natives), while cariocas split between air pollution (41%) and water supply issues (30%). In Manaus, 54% cited air pollution, another 34% wildfires, and 26% deforestation. In Belém, sewage collection (40%) and garbage collection (28%) were the most urgent problems.
In Recife, water pollution concerns 43% of respondents, while sewage collection and treatment is a priority for 29%. The last capital listed, Goiânia, chose lack of selective collection (39%), noise pollution (31%), and wildfires (28%) as the biggest problems. Overall, 52% chose air pollution as the biggest problem, 34% noise pollution, and 32% floods and flooding.
Regarding the main impacts felt, responses varied less—49% of all respondents considered excessive heat the main impact, followed by 17% citing air pollution, 11% food prices, and 10% floods. Other impacts like drought, water shortages, landslides, and sea-level rise add up to 8%, and 4% did not know. Except in Porto Alegre, where floods were the most cited impact at 36%, heat was identified as the most prevalent factor in all capitals.
The survey also explored how people view the role of city governments in combating these changes. Expectations were high across all cities, with respondents saying municipalities can contribute—Porto Alegre residents were the most skeptical, with 13% believing the municipal government can do nothing.
As for what cities can do, the most cited measures were controlling deforestation and occupation of watershed areas, reducing fossil fuel use in public transport, expanding environmental preservation areas, promoting proper solid waste disposal with measures like recycling and composting, and encouraging sustainable construction standards.
The study has some limitations, which were taken into account for the final results: it focuses on class C (55%) and A/B (30%) respondents, with only 15% from the poorest groups. It did not include children and concentrated responses among teenagers and young adults (ages 16 to 44, 62% of respondents).
Source: Agência Brasil