Impacts of climate change: reflections on environmental disasters and health in Brazil
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29397/reciis.v19i4.5362Keywords:
Climate change, Environmental disasters, Public health, Social vulnerability, Public policiesAbstract
Climate change represents one of the greatest contemporary challenges, with effects that manifest unevenly across territories and directly impact population health. In this context, the book Mudanças climáticas, desastres e saúde (2022) stands out by bringing together twelve analyses that combine theoretical frameworks grounded in the international debate on the issue with empirical evidence to discuss how different types of disasters – floods, droughts, landslides, among others – affect health in Brazil. This review examines the book’s contribution, highlighting how its analyses broaden the debate on social vulnerability, public policies, and mitigation strategies in the face of increasingly frequent climate events. From multiple perspectives, the book exposes the weaknesses of the Brazilian healthcare system and underscores the urgency of more integrated public policies involving scientists, policymakers, and society – policies that are effective and capable of responding to the climate crisis and reducing its impacts on public health.
References
ALMEIDA, Lutiane Queiroz de; WELLE, Torsten; BIRKMANN, Jörn. Indicadores de risco e vulnerabilidade aos desastres no cenário das mudanças climáticas no Brasil. In: BARCELLOS, Christovam; CORVALÁN, Carlos; SILVA, Eliane Lima e (org.). Mudanças climáticas, desastres e saúde. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Fiocruz, 2022. p. 175-195.
BARCELLOS, Christovam; CORVALÁN, Carlos; SILVA, Eliane Lima e (org.). Mudanças climáticas, desastres e saúde. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Fiocruz, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7476/9786557081679. Disponível em: https://books.scielo.org/id/gmjq4. Acesso em: 7 nov. 2025.
BARCELLOS, Christovam et al. An observatory to gather and disseminate information on the health-related effects of environmental and climate change. Revista Panamerica de Salud Publica, Washington, D.C., v. 40, n. 3, p. 167-173, set. 2016. Disponível em: https://www.scielosp.org/article/rpsp/2016.v40n3/167-173/en/. Acesso em: 15 ago. 2025.
CARDOZO, Claudia Paola; MONTEIRO, Antônio Miguel Vieira; LOPES, Eymar Silva Sampaio. Vulnerabilidade, riscos e mortalidade no desastre de 2011 em Nova Friburgo. In: BARCELLOS, Christovam; CORVALÁN, Carlos; SILVA, Eliane Lima e (org.). Mudanças climáticas, desastres e saúde. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Fiocruz, 2022. p. 49-74.
CUTTER, Susan L.; BORUFF, Bryan J.; SHIRLEY, W. Lynn. Social vulnerability to environmental hazards. Social Science Quarterly, Hoboken, v. 84, n. 2, p. 242-261, jun. 2003. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-6237.8402002. Disponível em: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1540-6237.8402002. Acesso em: 7 nov. 2025.
THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE (IPCC). Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. CORE WRITING TEAM; PACHAURI, R. K.; MEYER, L. A. (ed.). Geneva: IPCC, 2014. Disponível em: https://archive.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/syr/SYR_AR5_FINAL_full_wcover.pdf. Acesso em: 11 nov. 2025.
THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE (IPCC). Global Warming of 1.5° C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5° C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty. MASSON-DELMOTTE, Valérie et al. (ed.). Geneva: World Meteorological Organization, United Nations Environment Programme, 2018. Disponível em: www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2018/07/SR15_SPM_version_stand_alone_LR.pdf. Acesso em: 7 nov. 2025.
QUARANTELLI, Enrico L. The importance of thinking of disasters as social phenomena. Newark: University of Delaware, 1992. Disponível em: https://udspace.udel.edu/items/a06a856f-3335-499a-a493-2dacca54d997. Acesso em: 7 nov. 2025.
SENA, Aderita; CORVALÁN, Carlos. A inter-relação entre mudança do clima, desastres e saúde coletiva. In: BARCELLOS, Christovam; CORVALÁN, Carlos; SILVA, Eliane Lima e (org.). Mudanças climáticas, desastres e saúde. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Fiocruz, 2022. p. 25-47.
SMITH, Kirk R. et al. Human health: impacts, adaptation, and co-benefits. In: FIELD, C. B. et al. (ed.). Climate Change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014. p. 709-754. Disponível em: https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/WGIIAR5-Chap11_FINAL.pdf. Acesso em: 7 nov. 2025.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Ligia Regina Guimarães Clemente
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Author’s rights: The author retains unrestricted rights over his work.
Rights to reuse: Reciis adopts the Creative Commons License, CC BY-NC non-commercial attribution according to the Policy on Open Access to Knowledge by Oswaldo Cruz Foundation. With this license, access, download, copy, print, share, reuse, and distribution of articles is allowed, provided that it is for non-commercial use and with source citation, granting proper authorship credits and reference to Reciis. In such cases, no permission is required from the authors or editors.
Rights of authors’s deposit / self-archiving: The authors are encouraged to deposit the published version, along with the link of their article in Reciis, in institutional repositories.
