Rio- NEE case study

• Rio is located in the south east coast of Brazil
• Rio is important regionally because it is a major port and is a gateway to South America
• Rio is important nationally because 5% of Rio’s GDP is earned in the industrial centre. Main services: banking, finance and insurance
• Rio is important nationally because:

  • it’s home to one of the 7 wonders in the world: the Christ the Redeemer statue
  • it also hosted the olympics, so it draws tourists
  • its a major port for selling coffee and sugar
• The causes of growth of population: natural increase and migration
• Urban growth has created social challenges in Rio as:

  • many people live in favelas: the homes are made from scrap materials which are low quality
  • it is illegal and the government could demolish them as they are built on hilly steep land
  • Steep land is: hard to build on leading to landslides, services can’t access them for bin collection and it is crowded and lack street lighting so crime is high linking to the fact poor people live here
• Government encourages people in favelas in Rio to improve their own homes
• People in favelas are given free bricks to improve their homes
• Houses are now made with bricks, tile, and concrete instead of low-quality scrap materials, making them safer
• Improved houses lead to easier sanitation and access to electricity, enhancing the quality of life for residents and reducing the likelihood of getting sick
• Government saves money by only paying for materials and not labor
• People take pride in their improved homes, leading to decreased crime and litter, further saving the government money
• Saved money can be reinvested in more important areas
• social challenges and opportunities

  • education in Brazil is compulsory till the age of 14. In Rio, over 1/2 of student drop out at 14 as parents can’t afford to continue or they have to work to add income to the family
  • solution: school grants can be provided for the poorest children to help parents pay for these school fees and equipment, so that they are kept in school after 14. Local people are encouraged to teach. To keep the cost of paying teachers down so the fees can be cheaper for everyone
• Social challenges and opportunities

  • Health: only 55% of Rio have access to health clinics, as a result in the west of Rio, the average life expectancy is 45 years old. If they could access medical assistance, then this would be avoided
  • solution: medical staff take their kits into the favelas. They are able to detect 20 different diseases and treat them, this has lead to an increase of life expectancy in the favelas
• Social challenges and opportunities in Rio

  • Access to water: 30% of the population in Rio aren’t connected to formal sanitation. Meaning they don’t have clean running water or a toilet. These people will have to drink contaminated water, increasing the risk of disease e.g. Cholera. Meaning people have to take time off work or school due to illness.
  • To help solve this 300km of pipes were built meaning 95% people had access to clean water by 2014, and the number of open sewers decreased. The risk of disease has decreased.
• Social challenges and opportunities in Rio

  • Access to electricity: The favelas don’t have access to electricity so many steal electricity and set up their own connection. This is dangerous and leads to regular power outages. With a poor quality connection, residents can’t have fridges, washing machines or anything that requires power
  • solution: 60km of new electricity cables have been fitted. Also, USA donated $2billion for a hydroelectric power plant. Power is more regular so residents pay for it and it is also sustainable renewable energy source.
• Economic challenges and opportunities in Rio

  unemployment: Unemployment rates in Rio are over 20%. With no job, family‘s can’t afford basic necessities: food water and shelter. In addition, families can’t send their children to school or pay for medicine.
• Economic challenges and opportunities in Rio:

  informal jobs: These are jobs with low security, and low and irregular wages. The money earned is not taxed so the government get no money from people working in these jobs. The government will then be less likely to invest in improving the favelas, worsening their situation.
• Economic challenges and opportunities in Rio:

  • Crime: murder, kidnapping, car jacking and armed assaults are regular occurrences in favelas. Over 750 of the favelas are controlled by gangs, many involved in drug trafficking.
  • This is an issue because residents lose money from crime either from items being stolen or broken from residents being too scared to go to school or work, making it impossible to escape the poverty cycle.
• Economic challenges and opportunities in Rio:

  Solution is pacifying police units (UPPs): in 2013, the pacifying police units were employed to get control back in the favelas to reduce crime levels and reduce power of the drug lords. Meaning people will lose less money and not be scared to go work or school
• Economic challenges and opportunities in Rio:

  The schools of tomorrow programme: designed to get youth from poorest and most violent favelas into education for free. This will help the most vulnerable children to learn to read and write in order to secure employment away from gangs in the future and try to break the poverty cycle.

  • if unemployment levels are still high, crime will still be a desirable job compared to other informal jobs or unemployment.
• environmental challenges and opportunities in Rio:

  • water pollution: 55 rivers flow into Guanabara bay, carries 200 tonnes of sewage from the favelas. This means that habitats are destroyed, fishing declines and tourists don’t want to travel there. Theres nowhere for boats to dispose and change their fuel so dump it into the bay. This destroys habitats, causing an imbalance in food webs
• Environmental challenges and opportunities in Rio:

  • solution to water pollution: Rio will now fine ships that dump their waste in the bay, meaning they are less likely to dump and they can get money from those that do to help clean the bay and restore habitats
  • they have also spent $68 million on 12 new sewage works to reduce amount of pollution entering the bay.
• environmental challenges and opportunities in Rio:

  • Air pollution: car usage has increased by 40%. Streets are also very congested as the mountains restrict ability to build more roads. This means that lots of CO2 is released this traps heat in our atmosphere leading to global warming.
  • to try and reduce the amount of cars On the road, they’ve created toll roads that charge people to drive and then marking some of the coastal roads one way during peak times. This reduces the amount of CO2 released
• environmental challenges and opportunities in Rio:

  • Waste pollution: The streets in the favelas are narrow and steep meaning that bin lorries can’t enter the favelas to collect rubbish. This increases the risk of disease.
  • Power plant has been built to burn the rubbish to create energy (biomass). As long as rubbish is still collected, then this is a renewable energy source that can power over 1000 homes.