Risk perception and climate change in Natal/RN, Brazil: a look from the perspective of institutional actors

Abstract

Climate change is a contemporary global social and environmental risk, but also a local one, as it has different and unequal repercussions in local contexts, especially on the most vulnerable systems. To face this challenge, it is necessary to understand what local governments have done and/or sought to do to incorporate and implement climate change in their agendas, understanding how institutional actors perceive climate change as a risk that poses challenges at the local and which, in turn, requires greater action by these governments. Therefore, we aim to analyze the perception of climate risks by institutional actors in Natal, understanding how these actors incorporate climate change into the local government agenda. For this, methodologically, we anchored in research of a qualitative nature, using a bibliographic survey; field research, with application of semi-structured interviews; and content analysis. From the analysis and discussion of these results, we conclude that, in Natal, the perception of climate risks by managers and/or technicians of local urban management is still a challenge to be faced, with negative reverberations on the processes of internalization and realization of climate change in the governmental agenda of Natal. This is explained by the absence, in a way, of the climate perception of the institutional actors of urban management in Natal.