Several sites of accumulated waste appear throughout the housing complexes of Barros Filho. Photo: Amanda Baroni Lopes This year, International Workers’ Day took on a different meaning at the Haroldo de Andrade public housing complex, in the Rio de Janeiro North Zone neighborhood of Barros Filho. Bringing together around 30 people—men and women, adults and children, residents and participants from environmental movements and organizations—the “Trash? Not to Us!” collective ac

Community organization mobilizes residents to clean up the stream and fight a blackfly infestation, without adequate materials and in the face of public neglect. Photo: Support and Integration Network Clouds of blackflies are part of daily life for residents of the Mata Machado favela, in Alto da Boa Vista, near Tijuca Forest in Rio de Janeiro. To try to contain the proliferation of the insect, which has been negatively affecting their quality of life, residents organize mont

Sustainable Favela Network champions the COP30 Letter from the World’s Informal Settlements—“We Want Favelas at the Center of Climate Decisions!”—at the Global Climate March during COP30 in Belém. Photo: Bárbara Dias Headlines since the 30th Climate Conference (COP30) in Belém have focused on the diplomatic exchanges among heads of state and global authorities in the Blue Zone, particularly the lack of an agreement on fossil fuels, deforestation and climate adaptation financi