{"id":41950,"date":"2018-04-18T10:28:34","date_gmt":"2018-04-18T13:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=41950"},"modified":"2018-07-16T09:56:18","modified_gmt":"2018-07-16T12:56:18","slug":"pro-sanitation-movement-sustainablefavelanetwork-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=41950","title":{"rendered":"Baixada’s Pro-Sanitation Movement #SustainableFavelaNetwork [PROFILE]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Por<\/strong>tugu\u00eas<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Initiative<\/strong><\/span>: Pro-Sanitation and Environment Movement of the Parque Araruama Region (Movimento Pr\u00f3-Saneamento\u00a0e Meio Ambiente da Regi\u00e3o do Parque Araruama)
\nContact<\/strong><\/span>: Facebook<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Email<\/a>
\nYear Founded<\/span>:<\/strong>\u00a02011
\nCommunity<\/strong><\/span>: Parque Araruama Region – S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o de Meriti, Greater Rio
\nMission<\/span><\/strong>: “We are a non-partisan and secular movement of residents of the region of Parque Araruama who have met since the beginning of 2011 to reflect and propose alternatives that guarantee social, environmental, cultural, and economic rights. We fight for the social control of public policy, programs, and governmental programs. We are open to dialogue with all forces of society that engage in the construction of a socially and environmentally just city.”
\nPublic Events<\/strong><\/span>: The MPS hosts discussions, lectures, and workshops on topics related to sanitation and the environmnet in the Baixada Fluminense.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In many of Rio\u2019s informally established communities, nonexistent or poor-quality sanitation<\/a> infrastructure is a constant reminder of a long history of neglect by municipal, state, and federal governments. In the <\/span>Baixada Fluminense<\/span><\/a>, the region in the northwest of the Rio Metropolitan Area<\/a> home to approximately three million people, <\/span>access to water and sewer systems is especially lacking<\/span><\/a>. In the Baixada municipality of S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o de Meriti<\/a>\u2014nicknamed the \u2018anthill of the Americas<\/a>\u2019 for having one of the highest population densities on the continent\u2014<\/span>only 48.86% of the population has access to a formal sewage system<\/span><\/a>, according to 2015 statistics from the Brazilian Ministry of Cities. The NGO Trata Brasil ranked S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o among the ten worst Brazilian municipalities<\/a>\u00a0with populations over 300,000\u00a0for its sewage infrastructure<\/a>, and residents are consistently frustrated by ineffectual public sanitation policy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Pro-Sanitation Movement (MPS), an intergenerational group of activists from the region of Parque Araruama in S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o de Meriti, recognizes that <\/span>sanitation is political<\/span><\/a>. They engage in a variety of activities, from hosting public debates around the right to the city<\/a> and sustainable development to lobbying the municipal government for more equitable policy around water<\/a>, sewage, and waste<\/a> in their communities. Their efforts fuel conversations around sanitation in S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o de Meriti and demonstrate how effective public mobilization can hold governmental public works projects accountable to the needs of residents of Rio\u2019s peripheral communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The MPS\u2019s most recent campaign illustrates how the group operates. Several days of heavy rains in November of 2017 brought an unpleasant surprise to residents of the communities surrounding what is known as the <\/span>Morro<\/span><\/i> do Shopping<\/span><\/i>\u2014the large hill next to the Grande Rio Shopping Mall. <\/span>Rivers of muddy brown water gushed down the slopes<\/span><\/a>, flooding streets and homes in the community of Venda Velha and Parque Juriti. The mud clogged already deficient sewer systems and threatened the health<\/a> and livelihood of the local population. The <\/span>Morro do Shopping<\/span><\/i>, once one of the last remaining green spaces in the municipality, had been stripped bare of its vegetation when bulldozers appeared without warning in January of 2017. They quickly leveled the hill and exposed the loose earth<\/a> that turned to mud when the rains came\u2014all to pave the way for the construction of massive warehouses.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Initially, residents of the communities around the hill did not know why it was being deforested. The MPS obtained an audience with both the Secretaries of Public Works and the Environment in S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o de Meriti and found that an American company, Prologis<\/a>, had partnered with Brazilian developer Cyrela Commercial Properties<\/a> to advance the warehouse project. A municipal environmental impact assessment (0145\/2016) green-lighted the project, but MPS members say neither the developers nor municipal officials consulted or informed the surrounding communities about the construction. One member of the MPS movement, Paulo Machado, described the area destroyed for the Morro do Shopping<\/i> project as \u201cthe lungs of the region.\u201d It was a green space<\/a> home to animals like monkeys, birds, and snakes as well as recreation area for locals. A community soccer project for kids and youth had also previously used the fields destroyed by the bulldozers while clearing the hill. <\/span><\/p>\n

Former MPS member Jos\u00e9 Lopes warned that the deforestation<\/a> of the <\/span>Morro do Shopping<\/span><\/i> will have long-ranging consequences beyond increased flooding, in light of global climatic changes<\/a>. \u201cThey cut the trees. Only when the heat reaches 80 degrees, when they start to die\u2014when people here start to die\u2014will they remember the <\/span>Morro do Shopping<\/span><\/i>. Which wasn\u2019t a dry hill,\u201d he told <\/span>RioOnWatch<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span>Trees can reduce runoff-induced erosion by 600 times and can absorb 30-60% of precipitation. The loss of tree coverage is a significant contributor to landslides, a growing risk as rains intensify across Rio state due to climate change.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The MPS organized two protests at the construction site in partnership with the Venda Velha Residents Association and a local syndicate (SITICOMMM) of construction workers who had not benefited from the purported jobs the project promised to create. MPS members also contributed to <\/span>a Meriti TV story<\/span><\/a> on the flooding to raise awareness around the issue. In January 2018, <\/span>the MPS learned in a meeting with the engineers contracted by Prologis<\/span><\/a> that the company had committed to giving residents compensation for flood damages, as well as cleaning the sewage system affected by the mud. The MPS also presented their compensatory demands to the engineers. Along with the immediate preservation of a natural spring and vegetation that survived the initial construction, the\u00a0list of reparations for the lost green recreation space included plazas with sporting equipment, a bike path around the hill, reforestation, and the construction of a federal technical school in the region.<\/span><\/p>\n

The type of mobilization strategies employed by the MPS in the <\/span>Morro do Shopping<\/span><\/i> case arise from a history of residents’ movements in the Baixada<\/a>, according to MPS activist and Parque Araruama local T\u00e2nia Cubi\u00e7a. \u201cTowards the end of the 1980s, beginning of the 1990s, the residents associations and NGOs started to appear with a lot of force here in the municipality of S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o,\u201d she said. These groups fought for the needs of local communities, drawing attention to inequalities in exposure to violence<\/a>, access to education<\/a> and health, and sanitation. These issues affected Baixada communities composed predominately of migrants, often from Brazil\u2019s rural Northeast, who emigrated in mass numbers to settle in Rio between the 1950s and 70s as the city industrialized. Lopes explained that when he arrived in Parque Araruama in 1970, \u201cit was all northeasterners, Portuguese immigrants, and people from Minas Gerais,\u201d a Brazilian state bordering Rio.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The residents’ associations\u2014and later the MPS\u2014grew out of an activist tradition within the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations in Latin America. Also in the 1970s, the\u00a0<\/span>Basic ecclesial communities (EBCs)<\/span><\/i><\/a>, community-based Christian groups that worked for social justice, proliferated in Brazil. Their underlying ideology was <\/span>liberation theology<\/span><\/a>, an interpretation of scripture that emphasizes concern for poor and oppressed peoples. EBCs grew partly as resistance to human rights violations that took place under the Brazilian military dictatorship<\/a> in the 1970s and 80s, including political repression and torture. They employed a \u201csee-judge-act\u201d methodology<\/a>, which combines stages of critical reflection and conversation with the requirement of concrete actions to solve social issues. <\/span><\/p>\n

The MPS arose from the \u201cact\u201d phase of this method during the 2011 Fraternity Campaign, an event organized yearly by the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB) to incentivize social action on the community level. The theme of the\u00a0<\/span>2011 campaign was \u201cFraternity and Life on the Planet<\/span><\/a>,” meant to provoke conversation on issues of global climate change in Brazil. In Parque Araruama, this meant discussing public drainage projects happening in the region that year to combat flooding, an issue in many areas of the Baixada. The MPS emerged as the concrete result of the campaign and a desire to assure that these R$10 million projects actually solved the issues they were meant to address. A founding figure was Father Adelar, a fixture of the Catholic Church in Parque Araruama and an ex-city councillor in S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFather Adelar mobilized more than just the Catholic Church,\u201d explained Cubi\u00e7a. \u201cHe called all of the people in the whole area to discuss the question of sanitation.\u201d Adelar focused on uniting residents from different communities and political allegiances within the MPS, which has always operated as a non-denominational and non-partisan organization despite its origins in the methodology of the church.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The MPS quickly began acting to address injustices in the Parque Araruama region. In 2012, the group prepared a report for the Public Prosecutor’s Office<\/a> (MPF) in S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o de Meriti detailing how public money was wasted in an urban upgrading project in nearby Parque Analandia<\/a>. There, the community was slated to receive 180 homes, a health clinic, and new paved roads sponsored by federal money, but the company carrying out the public construction contract went bankrupt in 2012, halting the project. After several years of inaction, the municipality demolished what little construction had been started, an act the MPS viewed as an attempt to hide the failed project.<\/span><\/p>\n

The core group of organizers in the MPS numbers less than twenty, but the group counts on a larger network of residents who show up when the organization\u2019s actions require greater popular involvement. Much of their work focuses on civic education and public debate. They often host lectures and discussions on sanitation issues in S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o de Meriti. Currently, the group is trying to build momentum behind recycling in the community. Silvana Vieira, an MPS member involved in this area, told <\/span>RioOnWatch<\/span><\/i> that in December 2016 the group held\u00a0<\/span>a collective workday, or\u00a0mutir\u00e3o<\/em><\/a>, called “Recycle Araruama.”\u00a0On that day, local residents and business owners brought recyclables to a public square, where the MPS collected them, promoting recycling practices and their movement’s ideals.\u00a0This is now an annual event.<\/span><\/p>\n

The MPS also responds to local policy developments around sanitation in S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o de Meriti. In 2017, they focused on the move the S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o municipality made toward privatizing water and sanitation services by awarding them to \u00c1guas de Meriti<\/a>, a private company whose investors include an investment fund based in Singapore.<\/span>\u00a0The MPS published an informational pamphlet<\/a> about \u00c1guas de Meriti and distributed it, so residents would know what the privatization meant in practical terms,<\/a>\u00a0ensuring informed democratic engagement in the debate around public services. As of April 2018<\/span>, the privatization project was on hold<\/a>, due to difficulties in negotiation between \u00c1guas de Meriti, the municipality, and CEDAE, Rio\u2019s state water utility (<\/span>which seems to be headed toward privatization itself<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The most active members of the MPS group shift with the passing of time, but its commitment to holding public power accountable around sanitation issues does not. Cubi\u00e7a explained the MPS\u2019s position with a particularly resonant metaphor for those who have experienced Rio\u2019s muggy summer nights: \u201cWe are those annoying little mosquitos buzzing in your ear all the time. You want to sleep, you swat and swat, but we don\u2019t leave. I think the MPS is that mosquito that disturbs sleep, that doesn\u2019t allow complacency and doesn\u2019t give up. We were created with the objective of fighting for the common good, to look after the betterment of the quality of life here. While this isn\u2019t happening, we will not stop.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

*Movimento Pro-Saneamento is one of over 100 community projects mapped<\/a> by\u00a0Catalytic Communities<\/a>\u00a0(CatComm), the organization that publishes\u00a0RioOnWatch<\/em>, as part of our parallel \u2018Sustainable Favela Network<\/a>\u2018 program launched in 2017 to recognize, support, strengthen, and expand on the\u00a0sustainable qualities and community movements inherent to<\/a>\u00a0Rio de Janeiro\u2019s favela communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas Initiative: Pro-Sanitation and Environment Movement of the Parque Araruama Region (Movimento Pr\u00f3-Saneamento\u00a0e Meio Ambiente da Regi\u00e3o do Parque Araruama) Contact: Facebook\u00a0|\u00a0Email Year Founded:\u00a02011 Community: Parque Araruama Region – S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o de […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":42867,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1288,1290,1284,329,452,1329],"tags":[255,460,617,472,779,756,364,2128,385,78,1197,188,151,2668,1292,2707,141,301,529,2418,535,1699,373,471,2124],"writer":[2516],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-41950","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-highlight","8":"category-civilsociety","9":"category-interviews-profiles","10":"category-solutions","11":"category-rio20","12":"category-by-international-observers","13":"tag-activism","14":"tag-baixada-fluminense","15":"tag-catholic-church","16":"tag-climate-change","17":"tag-community-leaders","18":"tag-community-organizing","19":"tag-community-based-organization-cbo","20":"tag-deforestation","21":"tag-environmental-education","22":"tag-floods","23":"tag-greater-rio","24":"tag-history","25":"tag-landslide-risk","26":"tag-liberation-theology","27":"tag-organizing","28":"tag-parque-araruama","29":"tag-privatization","30":"tag-public-policy","31":"tag-public-works","32":"tag-right-to-water","33":"tag-sanitation","34":"tag-sao-joao-de-meriti","35":"tag-sewerage","36":"tag-sustainability","37":"tag-sustainable-favela-network","38":"writer-lucas-smolcic-larson"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41950"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=41950"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=41950"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=41950"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=41950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}