Maré Networks

An agenda for the promotion of socio-environmental rights in Maré.

• Environmental inequalities are great indicators for territorial inequalities
• The project includes actions to build an agenda for the promotion of socio-environmental rights in Maré territorial development agenda.
• The actions will be articulated around two complementary focal points:
  • Mobilization of different segments of the population around interventions that have an impact on the quality of life of Maré residents;
  • Incidence policy for urban interventions to improve the quality of life of Maré residents.

• Lack of qualified public policies and environmental education in the territory
• Heat island: In the North Zone, where Maré is located, higher atmospheric temperatures than in the city center were identified. Such scenario accentuates and expands difficulties that significantly interfere in the quality of life; air pollution is one of the causes of respiratory infections, and Maré region is where it has the highest number of children hospitalized due to acute respiratory infection.
• Lack of green areas: 16 non-wooded squares were mapped in the Maré region. The only areas that concentrate tree mass is Pinheiro Island (Maré Ecological Park) and the Olympic Village of Maré. Maré has only 3.49 m2 /inhabitant of green and leisure area, well below WHO recommendations to guarantee the minimum quality of life (12m2 / inhabitant); Less than 30% of the households grow plants in Maré.
• Waste Collection and Basic Sanitation: Insufficient collection of waste and residues. About 30% of households in Maré do not have a home waste collection service. The consequence is the throwing of garbage in wasteland, in streets, in canals and in ditches. Although there is a sewage network, there is no connection of the sewage network to the collecting trunk and treatment plant.

• Dense and dynamic community network with presence of 16 residents’ associations, civil society organizations, and religious institutions;
• Dynamic local economy with more than 3000 commercial enterprises, in which more than 30% in the ​​food industry;
• More than 40 municipal schools, in which Rede da Maré has been inserted through an action in the articulation of the school community for 20 years;
• Maré que Queremos and Forum of Residents’ Associations, permanent environments for reflection and articulation with the public agencies to formulate demands and monitoring of public policies for the sustainable development of Maré;
• Youth increasingly aware of the importance of including the environmental agenda within the mobilization around the territorial development agenda;
• Program of urban gardens in municipal schools and Ecological Park of Maré.

• Greater care with public and common environments based on greater environmental awareness and the enhancement of local knowledge and practices;
• Residents active in land management;
• Young people, women, men and elderly women, trained as environmental multipliers;
• Public bodies and community leaders more committed to the environmental agenda in the territory;
• Visibility of socio-environmental experiences developed in Maré.