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Brazil’s coastline under attack

Nature Climate Change volume 14, pages 1006–1007 (2024)Cite this article

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Brazil has one of the world’s longest coastlines, stretching approximately 7,500 km. Coastal areas within 33 m from the highest tide point are designated as federal land, a definition of ‘tidelands’ established in 1831. Despite being outdated, this helps protect native ecosystems and traditional communities, and keeps Brazilian beaches largely untouched and open to everyone. However, this could soon change.

A constitutional amendment (Bill 3/2022), revived by right-wing and far-right leaders, proposes transferring complete ownership of federal coastal lands to states, municipalities or private interests1. While not directly privatizing beaches, this could pave the way for restricted access because owners might fence off areas, denying public entry, as some resorts and luxury condominiums already do illegally. However, the implications go far beyond your next summer holiday.

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References

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  2. Urgent Need for Nature-Based Solutions to Protect Brazil’s Vulnerable Coastline from Climate Change (Nature-Based Solutions Initiative, 2023); https://go.nature.com/3A8teYl

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Acknowledgements

I thank the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) for the research productivity scholarship (310296/2023-4).

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  1. Department of Ecology, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil

    Marcus V. Cianciaruso

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  1. Marcus V. Cianciaruso
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Correspondence to Marcus V. Cianciaruso.

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Nature Climate Change thanks Lucas Coelho-Junior and Miguel Frohlich for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Cianciaruso, M.V. Brazil’s coastline under attack. Nat. Clim. Chang. 14, 1006–1007 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02110-2

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