Peripheries of Belém live with high thermal sensation – 12/20/2023 – Environment

The clock hand hasn’t even hit 10am in Conjunto Sevilha, Parque Verde neighborhood, in RMB (Belém Metropolitan Region), and the temperature is already over 30°C. Before noon, teacher Carolina Vilar, 27, tries to teach as many online yoga classes as possible.

When 12pm arrives, she goes to take a shower, goes back to the living room, turns on two fans and lies down on the tiles on the floor of her apartment, located in block B of Seville. The rite is not part of her yoga teachings, but rather a strategy designed by her to get rid of an invisible enemy, but very uncomfortable for her work at home: excessive heat.

“I take one bath after another. During the Amazonian summer, I take more than eight baths a day”, she says, referring to the period between June and September, when the Belém region experiences the hottest season of the year. year and less rain. Normally, in these months, thermometers in the capital of Pará have an average of 33°C, with peaks of up to 36°C.

This average, however, has been increasing in recent years in the city and worrying residents, especially those in peripheral neighborhoods or further away from the center, such as Vilar.

“The thermal sensation here is like a pressure cooker. It’s more than 40°C for sure”, believes Vilar.

According to data from Inmet (National Institute of Meteorology), the average temperature in Belém increased by 0.9°C, with a variation of up to 1.1°C, from 1991 to 2020.

Inmet studies already draw attention to thermal sensations in different parts of the city of Belém. “Places where the city’s growth was disordered, with waterproofing due to greater coverage of asphalt and concrete, construction of buildings and little vegetation cover are hotter” , says José Raimundo, coordinator of Inmet-PA.

Bad planning

Currently, Sevilha is an established team in the city. It has a well-signposted entrance, zip code and around 10 thousand inhabitants. But, 20 years ago, it was isolated from Belém, marginalized by the more central neighborhoods. Its implementation was carried out in an improvised manner, with invasions of forest spaces to build houses, without urban and environmental planning, and practically without the support of public authorities.

In the surroundings, where there once were trees, other complexes were born, many of them built along the same lines as Seville.

Located on Augusto Montenegro Avenue, one of the most important in the capital, due to its 13 km length that passes through eight neighborhoods, the area has been undergoing revitalization in the last decade.

Already called the “highway of death” in the past, due to the high number of accidents, Augusto Montenegro is where, today, the city of Belém has expanded most in housing and commercial areas.

One of the main hallmarks of this new phase is the construction of the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT). The project, 20 km long, aims to connect Belém and several nearby districts, such as Marituba and Icoaraci. However, due to several irregularities since its beginning, the works have lasted more than 11 years.

As a result, practically every green area in the region was transformed into a construction site. The Inmet coordinator confirms that the area around the avenue is among the places with the highest increase in temperature in the last decade in Belém, due to the removal of trees during the construction of the BRT.

“12 years ago, at 6am it was very cool here. That happened before they removed the trees. Now, at 6am, the sun is already invading the apartment and it starts to get very hot very early. If you don’t have a fan , you wake up feeling sick from the heat”, says Vilar.

Researchers corroborate the observation about excessive heat in these places. For Rede Jandyras, a collective of women who are environmental and climate justice organizers, the lack of a master plan for the city meant that growth was not planned to maintain environmental quality.

In this process, large permeable areas were lost and gave way to the construction of asphalt roads, forming so-called urban heat islands.

“The regions of Augusto Montenegro and Ananindeua are part of a region called ‘new Belém’. Since the 90s, this region has undergone major urban changes driven by the real estate market. These factors, added to climate change, have worsened the urban heat island, which causes certain areas of the city to have a higher temperature than others”, explains Waleska Queiroz, member of the Jandyras Network.

In August this year, the Construction Technology Laboratory (Labtec-UFPA) published a detailed analysis of the evolution of the climate in Belém. According to the results, there is clear evidence between population density and the increase in temperatures in the city.

Impact on the economy and health

In the Industrial District, a peripheral neighborhood in the city of Ananindeua, also in the RMB, the shower tray, made of plastic in the backyard, was the favorite place in the house for domestic worker Márcia Maria Moraes, 59, as it was used to wet her face and neck. and chest, in an attempt to get rid of the heat on a daily basis.

But, living in the District for more than 20 years and reaching old age, Moraes began to feel the consequences of the heat. He frequently has headaches, blood pressure and throat problems. Faced with these discomforts, he needed to buy an air conditioner for his room.

“Our energy bill became much more expensive, around R$500 per month. And look, we only turn on the air to sleep”, he says.

According to studies by the Human Rights of the Amazon group, from UFPA (Federal University of Pará), the Amazon region is where the most expensive energy in the country is paid. In Pará, around R$0.88 is charged per kilowatt, and in São Paulo, for example, it is approximately R$0.66.

“Considering that the state of Pará pays the highest energy tariff, the economic and social impact on low-income families is a factor that worsens inequalities”, explains Queiroz.

Sharing a two-bedroom house with her husband, daughter, son-in-law, two young grandchildren and a single teenage son, Moraes says she doesn’t regret the purchase. “I don’t know if it’s related to this increase in heat, but my head started to hurt more frequently, especially during peak heat hours. So the air conditioning helped me in that sense,” he says.

Likewise, Vilar, in Seville, believes that the excessive heat contributed to the worsening of his ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).

“By nature, I can’t concentrate very well anymore. When it’s very hot, I get very restless, really,” she says. “Even when you go down to try to cool off, you can’t because the sun is hitting the asphalt and reflecting on you. So how do you cool down in that circumstance?”

Health experts already correlate excess heat with an increase in diseases such as malnutrition and also with ophthalmological, respiratory, lung and skin-related problems. Furthermore, safety agencies warn that it is during this period that the risk of domestic accidents increases, with air conditioning, fans and extension cords.

“The topic ‘climate change’ has been of interest in the health field for years, as the need for preventive and therapeutic care in populations exposed to excessive heat is already clear. Without a doubt, those most affected end up being the most vulnerable, as well as children and the elderly”, says nutritionist Josiana Kely Rodrigues, who has a master’s degree in development and urban environment.

“The increase in air temperature has high concentrations of pollutants, generating a greater incidence of headaches, allergies, respiratory and circulatory infections”, he adds.

COP30

Belém, chosen to host COP30, the UN climate conference in November 2025, needs to deal with the urgency of developing heat mitigation strategies in the region so that, in the opinion of the Jandyra Network researchers, it can be considered a headquarters with examples of sustainability and resilience.

“Public authorities need to develop a comprehensive plan that involves increasing urban vegetation, nature-based solutions, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and sustainable infrastructure”, says Waleska Queiroz.

While that moment doesn’t arrive, Vilar watches, in the living room of his house, trying to cool off, the videos of Hyago Palheta, one of the best-known influencers from Pará in recent times — famous for the catchphrase “It’s a sun for every fresh one” —, wishing for days less hot in the near future, where the sun only serves as part of the mood scripts to amuse you.

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Some measures that Belém needs to take against the heat, according to experts

• Increased urban afforestation and the creation of new green areas; This measure is effective not only in providing shading and reducing local temperatures, but also in improving air quality and promoting the well-being of the population
• Reduce CO emissions_twoencouraging the use of public transport and other low-emission modes of transportation, such as cycling and river transport
• Adoption of permeable pavements, to better absorb rain, and low albedo paving (sunlight reflection), to mitigate the effect of urban heat islands

_{This report is part of the Tapajós Journalism Microgrants Program, a partnership between the Amazônia Communication Laboratory, the Saúde e Alegria Project and Folha to stimulate the journalistic production of young professionals from the Amazon.}