Silvia Berenice Fischer
Working Title: "Vulnerability to drought in São Paulo city - a socio-ecological assessment"
Research Countries: Brazil
Research Themes: Food security, climate smart agriculture, sustainable land management, climate change adaptation and mitigation
Abstract:
São Paulo is south-America's largest metropolitan region, and has been experiencing severe water shortages since 2010, raising concerns about the future of water supply. Fresh water reservoirs reached its lowest levels during 2013/2014, due to the lack of rain accompanied by a heat wave, reaching the warmest summer in 55 years in 2015.
This events are a relevant example of increased vulnerability to extreme weather events in cities; specific impacts of drought are expected to increase the vulnerability of agricultural systems and reinforce factors affecting them like rising demand for food and the decrease on yields due to the changes on rainfall patterns and extreme temperatures, conflicts over scarce resources (land tenure, water, biofuels, etc.), and chronic poverty.
Facing these challenges there is a strong need on finding strategies that enhance the resilience and adaptive capacity of these systems, through and integrative understanding of the climate change dynamics and impacts at the local level.
In this sense it is important to note the critical relevance of Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture (UPA) in the city´s context, since is one of the major strategies that is being adopted in the tropics to address urban poverty and improve wellbeing of city dwellers. In order to develop functional mitigation and adaptation plans, it is necessary to assess the vulnerability and impacts of drought in UPA systems in the cities, in this sense this research aims to assess the drought vulnerability of UPA agriculture in Sao Paulo city and its potential for adaptation within the context of One Health identifying the impacts of drought on UPA agriculture in São Paulo, city, analyzing the level of vulnerability of UPA in São Paulo, Brazil and identifying the adaptation strategies and technologies available to enhance resilience and reduce vulnerability to drought.
Supervisor(s):
Prof. Dr. Wiltrud Terlau (HBRS)
Prof. Dr. Jan Börner (ZEF)