"When the rain comes, fear floods in": women from Recife confront environmental racism and transform the territory.

“When winter came, I either slept to die, or I waited for the rain to pass.” Tereza Cristina’s phrase sums up the feeling of many women inAlto José Bonifácio, a suburb of Recife, during periods of intense rain. In the neighborhood, where the hills of Córrego do Euclides are located, the houses balance on fragile slopes, covered with plastic tarps since 2014 to prevent landslides, but what should protect, doesn’t always hold. With the advance of climate change and the negligence of public authorities, the fear of losing their homes – or their lives – has become routine for those who live there.It was in this scenario that Cidadania Feminina was born in 2005, an organization created by seven black women, mostly lesbians, led by Liliana Barros. It all started in a backyard, amidst conversations about feminism, racism, domestic violence, and the right to the city. Today, with more than 90 women mobilized, the group acts as a space for welcoming, training, and resistance.The climate crisis changed the urgency of the agenda. In 2022, the most intense rains of the century in Pernambuco left 130 dead, most of them women. The headquarters of Cidadania Feminina was affected: cracks in the walls, leaks, part of the roof collapsing.

With the headquarters rebuilt, the mobilization grew. Liliana and other leaders began to organize meetings with women from 11 other peripheries of Recife and the Metropolitan Region, giving rise to theArticulação Mulheres de Bairro (Neighborhood Women's Network).

"Ia ser um desastre feio”, lembra Liliana. Foi então que, com o apoio do Programa Segurança e Cuidado do ELAS+, a organização conseguiu reformar o espaço e seguir viva, física e simbolicamente.

The group promotes discussion groups, workshops, seminars, and actions to demand public policies geared towards the realities of peripheral territories.The support from ELAS+to Cidadania Feminina was made possible in 2023 through the Security and Care program, which seeks to support and promote protection and care actions for organizations and leaders working in the defense of human rights and territories. The proposal aims to strengthen resilience in the face of environmental, climate, health, or political crises and threats. Investing in initiatives like this strengthens the solutions that already emerge from the territories, where the fight for climate justice is also a fight for dignity, permanence, and life.

"A chuva e o sol não são iguais para todo mundo", diz Liliana. No Córrego do Euclides, onde falta água potável, mas a conta chega a R$ 400, o racismo ambiental não é um conceito distante: é o dia a dia de mulheres que precisam escolher entre o medo da chuva e o risco da seca.

O apoio do ELAS+ ao Cidadania Feminina foi viabilizado em 2023 por meio do programa Segurança e Cuidado, que busca apoiar e promover ações de proteção e cuidado para organizações e lideranças que atuam na defesa dos direitos humanos e dos territórios. A proposta é fortalecer a resiliência diante de crises e ameaças ambientais, climáticas, sanitárias ou políticas. Investir em iniciativas como essa é fortalecer as soluções que já brotam dos territórios, onde a luta por justiça climática é também uma luta por dignidade, permanência e vida.