MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION OF CITIES TO CLIMATE CHANGE: SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL VULNERABILITIES AND LEGAL CONFLICTS IN THE PROTECTION OF URBAN PERMANENT PRESERVATION AREAS IN BRAZIL

This paper aims to understand the relationships between socio-environmental vulnerability in Brazilian urban areas in the current context of climate change and the legal protection of urban Areas of Permanent Preservation (APP, in the acronym in Portuguese). We seek to identify and interpret how the composition formed by (i) norms currently in force in Brazilian law, (ii) instruments of environmental and land-use planning public policies, and (iii) jurisprudence on normative conflicts related to the discipline of urban PPAs. By means of a literature review and critical analysis of the legislation, other public policy instruments and jurisprudential precedents, we aimed to understand how this composition is aligned with initiatives to mitigate and adapt to climate change and to reduce socio-environmental vulnerabilities resulted from or aggravated by it, with a focus on the situation of populations that live precariously in risk areas. As a result, we have identified a complex and not very harmonious composition of norms applicable to these protected areas in the urban context. However, the current understanding of jurisprudence and the current legislative activity have evolved positively in relation to the necessary actions of adaptation to climate change and reduction of socio-environmental vulnerabilities, although important improvements are still necessary for effective protection and restoration, whenever possible, of urban APP.