Building capacity to adapt to climate change through local actor support : a case study of an informal settlement in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract: Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of the most severe weather-related hazards over the coming decades. The poor in developing countries are particularly susceptible to climate change, often living in informal or precarious settlements. In order to reduce the vulnerability in those areas and strengthen people´s capacities to adapt to climate change, there is a need for knowledge about the factors that determine people´s capacity to adapt to climate change. Particular attention should be paid to the extent to which support from local actors enable the environment for appropriate local adaptation. This study examines how the NGO Urban Solutions can better support adaptive capacity for the residents of Morro Vital Brazil, an informal settlement in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where floods, heavy rains and landslides are frequent. The study thus explores how urban poor adapt to climate-related events at the household and community level, as well as how the adaption measures can be influenced by the support of local actors that work with the community. The information for the study was gathered through observations and semi-structured interviews with residents from Morro Vital Brazil, informal conversations with staff members from the NGO Urban Solutions and a literature review. The results shows that access to resources, knowledge, information and assistance from local actors can play significant roles in determining adaptive capacity. In addition, it demonstrates how the support from a local NGO can provide knowledge and information to people about climate change and help to facilitate knowledge sharing and joint learning experiences. It also suggests that the presence of a NGO in the study area was found to be a contributing factor to people´s adaptive capacity by increasing resilience at the household and community level. On this basis, it is conclude that assistance from a local actor may be linked to increase adaptive capacity and thus resilience.