City planners in Brazil discover the value of nature

Two people viewing the city from a hill top

The content cannot be shown, because the marketing-cookies were denied. Click here , for accepting the cookies and show the video!

Duque de Caxias is a concrete jungle. The city on the outskirts of another larger city, namely Rio de Janeiro, has seen huge population growth - and with that an explosion in industry and urbanization that has swallowed up mangroves, wetlands and parts of Brazil's tropical Atlantic Forest. That's affecting the climate there. Around 40 percent of the city is under threat from floods and landslides. In January 2013, thanks to poor urban planning, mudslides devastated Xerem, a district of Duque de Caxias. Now city planners are rethinking their strategy. Architect Mario Vieira is placing the city's urban ecological retreats under protection while prioritizing ecosystems and blocking new building projects when necessary. In Duque de Caxias, nature's value is being recognized, an approach that has made the city a pioneer in Brazil.

A film by Philipp Barth

The link has been copied to the clipboard

Video list

Information

Length
6:46 Minutes

Date of publication
2016

Project

Protecting biodiversity by integrating ecosystem services into public programmes and business - TEEB

Global Ideas

The television reports and documentaries of Deutsche Welle's 'Global Ideas' media project provide people all over the world with information on model projects which implement biodiversity and climate protection. The media project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety through the International Climate Initiative.