After the Flood: Why Nature-Based Solutions in Brazil Need Environmental Justice and Participatory Governance

Climate change is intensifying extreme weather events, such as floods and droughts, posing urgent challenges for policymakers in the Global South. The devastating floods in Rio Grande do Sul in April 2024 exposed one more time Brazil’s acute vulnerability to extreme climate events, which disproportionately impacted its most marginalized populations. As cities grapple with how to adapt, Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) emerge as promising alternatives, aligning environmental protection with the promotion of human well-being and urban resilience. While NbS offer potential for sustainable adaptation, their implementation in Brazil faces critical challenges that threaten to compromise their effectiveness and social justice. These include conflicting interests, a technocratic planning tradition, and limited public participation in decision-making processes. We argue that environmental justice and participatory governance must be at the core of NbS strategies to avoid reproducing or exacerbating social inequalities in climate adaptation policies. Using the Rio Grande do Sul floods as a case study, this commentary argues for NbS grounded in justice and participation.