https://wwf.panda.org/?255810/Belo-Horizonte-food
For the second year in a row, Belo Horizonte was chosen by WWF as BrazilĀ“s
National Earth Hour Capital in 2015. As with many other sustainability success
stories ā Freiburg, Vancouver,Copenhagen ā green development in Belo Horizonte
has its origins in a grass-roots movement that in the 1990s kick started
democratic and social programs in the city. In 1993, following the rise of the
Brazilian Movement for Ethics in Politics and Citizenship Action against
Hunger, Poverty and for Life, the new mayor of Belo Horizonte, Patrus Ananias,
declared that food was a right of citizenship and it was the duty of the
government to guarantee this right. The city then launched "the worldās most
comprehensive policy that tackles hunger immediately and secures a healthy food
supply for the futureā in the words of the World Future Council, which in 2009
endowed Belo Horizonte with the Future Policy Award.
The Food Security Program
Here are some highlights of the Food Security Program:
The city subsidizes food sales in certain popular restaurants serving
nutritious food to all at low prices, and catering directly to poor
neighborhoods through food vans.
The city supplies food directly to public schools and daycare centers, health
clinics, nursing homes, homeless shelters, and other charitable institutions,
with a special program for nutritious supplements to families, whose children
show signs of malnutrition. The city has also created food banks to collect and
distribute excess fresh fruit and vegetables from markets and stores.
Food markets are regulated and the city has introduced food outlets, which are
licensed to private operators under the agreement that a selection of 25
quality-controlled products are sold at set prices ā about 20ā50 % below market
price. The city has facilitated direct trade between local producers and
consumers at fixed sale points throughout the city with regulated quality and
prices. It has also organized dozens of farmers markets, and keeps the public
informed on the lowest prices of a list of 45 basic household items.
The cityĀ“s support of urban agriculture has led to the establishment of over a
hundred community and school gardens.
Success and replication
As a result of these policies (which cost the city less than 2% of its budget)
Belo Horizonte has almost eliminated hunger, reduced poverty, created price
stability, and generated rural sustainability and a thriving urban and local
agriculture sector (see also Lubumbashi). Within 10 years of the launch of the
program, child mortality was reduced by 60%, child hospitalization for
malnutrition by 75% and poverty by 25%, while 700,000 farmers had access to
credit for the first time in their lives, leading Belo Horizonte to become
known as "the city that ended hunger."
In 2003, the program became the blueprint for then Brazilian President Lula da
SilvaĀ“s nationwide Zero Hunger Program, under the direction of Patrus Ananias
as Minister for Social Development and the Fight against Hunger. Belo
HorizonteĀ“s own program continues to be developed further and has, for example
included a revision in 2010 of the cityās land use plan to incorporate urban
agriculture as a non-residential land use, on a par with commerce, services and
industry.
Participatory government and resilience
The 1993 reforms also initiated a range of democratization programs, including
participatory budgeting, public schools and kindergartens, urban and
environmental renewal in slums and resilience efforts (see also Chengdu). The
Structural Program for Dangerous Areas (PEAR) was set up in 1993 and has since
then coordinated preventive actions in geologically dangerous areas, including
repair, maintenance construction and relocation of people to safer urban
settlements. Belo HorizonteĀ“s main natural challenges are its hilly terrain and
700 km of streams, which makes it prone to flooding and landslides. In 2011,
the Risk Areas Executive Group (GEAR) was set up to coordinate emergency
actions during the rainy season. According to the city, these efforts have
protected millions of people, and since 2003, no one has died in landslides,
and very few in flooding incidents. In 2013, Belo Horizonte was awarded the
United Nations Sasakawa Award for disaster risk reduction.
References:
Belo Horizonte Municipal Government, āBelo Horizonte Sustainable Cityā,
http://www.franceamsud.org/observatorio/images/pdf-20marzo/belohorizonte_sostcity.pdf
World Future Council, āCelebrating the Belo Horizonte Food Security Programmeā,
http://worldfuturecouncil.org/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF/Future_Policy_Award_brochure.pdf
World Future Council, futurepolicy.org, āBelo HorizonteĀ“s Food Security
Policyā,
http://www.futurepolicy.org/food-and-water/belo-horizontes-food-security-policy/
Frances Moore LappĆ©, āBelo Horizonte, Brazil: The city that ended hungerā,
http://www.themindfulword.org/2012/belo-horizonte-brazil-the-city-that-ended-hunger/
carbonn Climate Registry, City Climate Report: City of Belo Horizonte,
http://carbonn.org/data/report/commitments/?tx_datareport_pi1%5Buid%5D=393
FAO, āGrowing Greener Citiesā, āBelo Horizonteā,
http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/greenercities/en/GGCLAC/belo_horizonte.html
UNISDR, āThe Sasakawa Award ā City Council of Belo Horizonte, Brazilā,
http://www.unisdr.org/2013/sasakawa/documents/nominees/BeloHorizonte.pdf
When I dare to be more powerful--to use my strength in the service of my
vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.
Audre Lorde