Since March 2023, the Breathe Maré project has been conducting a series of diagnostics on air quality, identifying heat islands, and observing the impacts on the health of the residents. The proposal is that, after analyzing the data, we carry out an environmental pedagogical intervention in the public space.

Why do this?

The Maré territory is located between the three main access routes of the city of Rio de Janeiro, receiving heavy atmospheric pollution. In addition to vehicular traffic, Maré is just 14 km away from the Duque de Caxias Refinery (Reduc) - one of the largest refineries in Brazil in terms of installed petroleum refining capacity and one of the main sources of atmospheric pollution in the metropolitan region.

Linked to this issue, Maré also has few green areas, such as the Cadu Barcellos Ecological Municipal Park and the Maré Olympic Village, which directly control local temperature, and their absence in the territory only contributes to abnormal heat increases (forming the so-called "heat islands") in the face of the global warming issue.

According to the report "The State of Air Quality in Brazil" (2021) by the World Resources Institute (WRI) environmental problems affect different regions and/or segments of the population with unequal impact: children, the elderly, and poorer individuals are more exposed to the harmful effects of pollution and extreme heat. The lack of data and legal regulation are the main challenges to be addressed here.

INTERAXIS PARTNERSHIP

Breathe Maré is carried out by the Urban and Socioenvironmental Rights axis in partnership with The Right to Health axis. This partnership arises from the conception that to focus on the environmental issue, it is necessary to be connected with other rights and areas of knowledge, since the objective of this partnership is to think about joint solutions that impact the quality of life of Maré residents. Thus, when looking at air quality, heat islands, and their impact on residents' lives, the focus is on understanding how these problems affect daily life, thinking about solutions, but also drawing attention to the fact that the environmental issue is directly connected between individuals and nature.

Entre as Among the lines of action of Redes da Maré, the research is divided between diagnosis and knowledge production about the region and impact on public policies, systematization and dissemination of knowledge.

The first includes air quality measurements in all 16 slums of Maré, between March and September 2023, for the identification and measurement of heat islands and their possible causes, as well as a survey of public data on potential diseases caused by poor air quality with the General Coordination of Primary Care CAP 3.1.

The second line of action includes several meetings with residents, local actors and the public authorities to politically influence the rights of Maré residents in this context.

Photos 01 and 02: Environmental agents Luiz Carlos da Costa and Marcela de Melo are among the five selected through Redes da Maré's call for proposals in February 2023.