New climate action resources hub for Brazil

Brazil’s Science Minister has praised the value of Brazil-UK cooperation to address climate change at the launch of a new website presenting cutting-edge climate resources, designed at the University of Reading.

Marcio Rojas, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, attended the launch of www.viewpoint-brazil.org on 24 March. The hub, created by the Institute for Environmental Analytics (IEA), based at the University, puts cutting-edge scientific research directly into the hands of those making crucial climate action decisions and developing vital climate services in Brazil.

Mr Rojas said: “Science plays an important role in strengthening international cooperation and vice versa: contemporary global challenges do not recognise geopolitical boundaries and do not encourage isolated ways of resolution. This is evidently the case of climate change and related topics such as biodiversity, sustainable energy, food security, water resources and oceans, just to name a few.

“The production of science at the frontier of knowledge and cutting-edge technology to overcome global challenges depends on expensive experiments and large research infrastructures, which are impossible, in some cases, to be afforded by a single country. We believe the solutions necessarily involve international cooperation for the sharing of installations and co-financing.”

'Vital role'

The website and its accessible resources draw together world-leading science from the Climate Science for Service Partnership (CSSP) Brazil. It is a collaboration of experts from organisations in the UK and Brazil, including the University’s Department of Meteorology.

The IEA created user-friendly and practical climate action content to encourage wider use of the research to develop climate services for adaptation and mitigation in Brazil, the UK and internationally to reduce the impacts of climate change and achieve Net Zero.

Georgina Ayre, Prosperity Counsellor for Brazil at the British Embassy, opened the launch. She said: “The Viewpoint platform is one of the incredible outcomes harnessed from CSSP Brazil. Communicating scientific findings has never been so challenging. This platform will have a vital role in connecting some of the cutting-edge information produced by Brazilian and British climate scientists to decision-makers.

“The Viewpoint platform is an innovative approach to encourage wider use of the CSSP resources and climate services in Brazil, the UK and internationally, promoting climate adaptation and mitigation strategies that could help to protect vulnerable people and to enhance climate resilience services to mitigate the social and economic impacts of extreme weather events.”

The website has been designed for decision-makers in national, regional and municipal government in Brazil and South America, as well as sectors such as agriculture, energy, water management and infrastructure, where extreme weather is having devastating impacts. The free resources have been created by the IEA to be accessed by mobile phone, digital tablets and PCs in Portuguese and in English and will also be valuable to scientists and researchers who are new to climate science.

Future climate risks

Projections of future climate impacts on Brazil, improved fire risk warnings and fire probability seasonal forecasting services have been developed in partnership by scientists in Brazil and the UK through CSSP Brazil which began in 2016.

This research is communicated through videos, science explainers, briefing notes, data demonstrators, and a magazine-style handbook with interviews with scientists, in Portuguese and in English. All signpost to more in-depth scientific information and the website includes a searchable catalogue of scientific papers published by CSSP Brazil and a glossary of the climate terms used. The IEA created a similar website and resources for CSSP China last year.

CSSP Brazil is a successful partnership between Brazil and the UK, supported by the UK Government’s Newton Fund and the Brazilian Government. UK and Brazilian institutions have worked together, including the Brazilian National Space Agency (INPE), the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA), Brazil’s national centre for monitoring and early warning of natural disasters (Cemaden), the Met Office (the UK’s national meteorological service) and academic partners in both countries. As well as world-leading scientific climate research, it has produced collaborative science that is fundamental to the development of climate services that support climate-resilient economic development and social welfare.

UK organisations in the partnership also include the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, University of Exeter, University of Leeds, University of Oxford and University of Edinburgh.