In Brazil’s capital, residents grow their own heat-fighting solutions

Brasília's central Plano Piloto averages 138 square meters of green space per resident, while parts of the Sol Nascente favela 30 kilometers away have up to 23 times less, according to a University of Brasília study. Residents there describe heat trapped by tarmac and concrete, with one man reporting rhinitis, bronchitis, and disrupted sleep from the dry, dust-laden air.

The study's author says green space in Brazil's capital tracks income almost exactly, with Plano Piloto households earning 12 times more than those in Sol Nascente. Residents have turned to guerrilla gardening and a local tree-planting program while a global analysis finds the same pattern of unequal green access across 199 cities, worse in the Global South.

Brazil's National Urban Tree Planting Plan, launched at COP30, aims by 2045 to give roughly 40 million more people at least three visible trees, following the '3-30-300' planning rule already used in several countries. One expert cautions the rule assumes there's even a pavement to plant in.

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