Recent environmental impacts reported by 75% of Brazil’s cities

A recent survey conducted by Brazil's statistics bureau, IBGE, reveals that 75% of the country's municipalities have experienced various environmental impacts, including droughts, floods, and landslides, over the past two years. This equates to 4,140 out of the total 5,571 cities (74.3%) that participated in the study. IBGE used 2025 data collected from municipal governments across the country to quantify the number of environmental impacts, with the last comparable data collected in 2020.

Noteworthy findings include the expansion of environmental impacts, with drought affecting 59% of municipalities in 2025 compared to 53.4% in 2020. Flooding impacted 49.5% of cities in 2025, up from 35.8% in 2020, while landslides affected 25.2% of cities in 2025, up from 17.1% in 2020.

Municipalities play a critical role in addressing environmental issues, as the survey highlights that most environmental impacts are felt at the local level. The study also shows that half of the cities (2,793) have at least one urban planning and risk management tool in place, while 55.4% of municipalities have a master plan, up from 50% in 2020. Environmental management structures within city governments have also improved, with 98.4% of municipalities now having such mechanisms, up from 94.7% in 2020.

In terms of climate change legislation, only 10.1% of municipalities have environmental legislation for adapting to climate change, while 9.3% have legislation or tools for mitigating climate change. However, IBGE analyst Vânia Maria Pacheco emphasizes that the absence of specific legislation does not imply a lack of action, as many municipalities are taking measures to combat or mitigate the effects of climate change.