The city of Manaus (AM) has serious racial, ethnic and gender inequality based on the social and spatial analyses on the impacts of climate change. Furthermore, the municipality has the third worst Municipal Human Development Index (MHDI) in the country and a population density of 2,035 inhabitants/km². This information is available in the study “Urban inequalities and the regional metropolis in times of climate change: A social and spatial analysis of Manaus (AM),” which was performed by the Urban Legal Amazon project and published on April 28.
“As in many other Brazilian cities, the living and health conditions in Manaus are affected by different contexts, including climate change through a series of mechanisms, such as the increase of temperature, poor air quality and extreme weather events. There are also changes (floods, for example) that alter diseases transmitted by vectors, reduce the water quality and increase food insecurity. The social and spatial segregation of the city, where the majority of the population lives, is impacted by unhealthy occupations, lack of income, poor water and air quality and food insecurity, making the inhabitants even more vulnerable to extreme weather events,” explains a passage from the release of the study.
The study shows that the vulnerabilities differ in accordance with racial and ethnic groups, deepening the gender inequalities. Not surprisingly, the text and the research make reference to some UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as number 1 (Eradicating poverty in all forms and in all places), 5 (Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls), 6 (Guaranteeing the availability and the sustainable management of drinking water and sanitation for everybody), 10 (Reducing the inequalities within countries and between countries), 11 (Making cities and communities more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable), and 13 (Taking urgent measures to combat climate change and its impacts).
