By Thiago Gabriel 
Clique aqui para Português
The heavy storm that hit Rio de Janeiro on March 12, 2025, caused flooding, fallen trees, and other impacts across Greater Rio. One of the affected areas was the most forested part of Morro da Providência, located above the João Ricardo Tunnel downtown. The storm damaged homes and the Agroecological Providência socio-environmental education project.
Jhony Rony’s home, in Morro da Providência, had its roof hit by a fallen tree.
“It all happened really fast. We started seeing some lightning, then came the wind, then a loud noise. It felt like the house was going to collapse. We had no idea it would be like this. The day before, a guy had trimmed a few branches from the tree—ones he thought were the most dangerous. Thank God he did. Nothing major happened inside the house, it was mostly smaller branches that broke the roof tiles. But when I stepped outside, into my yard, I was shocked. I said, ‘Wow, look at how thick these branches are!’ They were huge.” — Jhony Rony
Maelene Silva is also a resident and works at Agroecological Providência. Although her home was not damaged by the storm, her neighbors weren’t as fortunate.
“I was home when the whole thing started. I watched the trees breaking. The wind was blowing back and forth, and we actually thought the house might fly away. Then I came down here to the project. By the time I got here, it was already nighttime and the power went out. The whole place was wrecked, with a lot of damage. My neighbor’s house got hit—the roof tiles in his kitchen were broken. I was cooking dinner; it all happened so suddenly. The power went out all at once and only came back two days later. And today, March 14, we still don’t have Internet. Our fan also got fried.” — Maelene Silva
According to Luciana Santana, another resident whose roof was damaged, the storm was brief but strong enough for heavy branches to crash through the tiles of her home.
“The rain started out like this: a little windy, breezy… My son was sitting here, and I said, ‘Go grab the clothes off the line.’ And he replied, ‘No, mom, it’s not going to rain.’ Then I said, ‘You know what? I’m going to take them down myself.’ And just as I did, in came the wind, knocking everything down—the gutters; that big branch over there broke the roof tiles. It felt like the world was ending. I was lucky the other trees fell over the house and landed down on the street. Another one almost hit us and cracked the roof. These rains scare us so much, you know? This is the first time [something like this has happened]. We’ve had strong winds every year, but the trees never used to fall. But I always say: ‘At least trim the branches, right?’ My son keeps telling me, ‘Mom, come stay at my place in Cordovil,’ but I always say, ‘No, I’m used to it here. I’m not leaving. I’m not selling my house for peanuts. I’m used to being here on my own, just me and God.’ I like being close to the NGO [Agroecological Providência], the market’s nearby. I like visiting my sister, who lives near me. Sometimes it’s not that cool here because of the heat from the tunnel, but I like living here.” — Luciana Santana
One of the founders of Agroecological Providência, which began its work in 2013, Alessandra Roque says that at the time, the area was a dump. She started going there to collect soil for the plants at her home. She recalls, however, that as she gathered soil, she also took away some of the trash that had piled up. Over time, she ended up reforesting the area, which eventually became the headquarters for the community’s socio-environmental activities, ultimately leading to the founding of Agroecological Providência. Coordinated together with Lorena Portela, the project offers socio-environmental education activities to the community.
Although it lasted only about ten minutes, the storm on March 12 destroyed part of the roof of the classroom where Agroecological Providência hosts the community-run Machado de Assis college preparatory course. It also broke branches off the trees cultivated in the space. Roque, a forest guide and guardian, deeply familiar with native woods, and traditional healer who uses medicinal plants and spiritual practices passed down through generations, explains that the flooding, fallen trees, and other damage caused by the storm stem from the lack of sustainable urban planning—one that takes into account the role of nature in ensuring urban safety and its importance for social well-being.
According to Roque, mainstream media narratives place the blame for the negative impacts of storms on nature itself. By framing nature as a “problem,” these narratives encourage the removal of trees both in the favela and in the formal city—a move that does not produce real solutions.
The fewer the trees, she says, the hotter and more unbalanced the environment becomes. As she explains, trees help contain lightning during storms, withstand strong winds, cool the surroundings, and hold the soil in place through their roots. Especially in sloped areas like Morro da Providência, trees help prevent landslides. Roque also explains that the arbitrary removal of trees can increase urban vulnerability in the face of climate change.
“There are several factors [that contribute to the vulnerability of this part of Providência]. This used to be a garbage dump, so the soil isn’t very stable. We cleaned it up and we’re still reforesting, but there hasn’t been enough time for the soil to become well compacted. The fact that it’s sloped means that [part of the soil] keeps getting washed away. But in other places too—even in [Rio’s upscale] South Zone, or in areas that aren’t on hillsides—trees also fell. And that’s also [important] to talk about… the trees around us are what protect our homes. When the trees fell, you can see that the houses remained standing. On this side over here, where there are no trees—the roof flew off. Our other neighbors who don’t have trees, their houses were damaged… we don’t realize that the trees sacrificed themselves to protect us, you know? There’s a whole way of looking at things, a whole other way of seeing: you see that all these trees fell, all of them so big, and they were so generous with us. If these trees hadn’t fallen, hadn’t formed this protective barrier, how many [more] houses would’ve collapsed? How many people would’ve died? You know?” — Alessandra Roque
For Roque, the damage caused by this storm reveals the troubling lack of environmental policies focused on mitigation and urban adaptation—especially policies focused on favelas. This gap results in a lack of infrastructure to respond to the severity of such events.
“You come here and you see an agroforest. Even after the storm, there’s still no policy that allows us to create an agroforest within an urban setting. When we apply for public funding, for instance, we have to enter Agroecological Providência into calls for proposals for herb workshops or for making medicinal syrup… Sure, that kind of funding helps us keep our activities going, but it doesn’t help us access funds to do all the pruning, or to carry out the structural containment work we need. We cannot access public policies that actually support what we’re doing—even though we’re planting, even though all these trees are already here. To the State, it’s as if they didn’t exist.” — Alessandra Roque
For this reason, after the March 12 disaster, Agroecological Providência launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise the resources needed to cut and remove damaged trees that are preventing the continuation of their work and posing risks to both activities and residents.
On March 12, the Rio government’s Operations Center (COR) recorded high levels of rainfall, fallen trees, and structural collapses in South Zone neighborhoods and in the central region, including Avenida Presidente Vargas. There was, however, no official record of the storm’s impact that day on Morro da Providência.
The Agroecological Providência Project and Its Relevance to Environmental Justice in the Community
Despite the public authorities’ neglect of the climate crisis’s impacts on favelas—and the lack of support and visibility for local solutions to address these impacts—projects like Agroecological Providência continue to grow in adaptive and autonomous ways. There, children from the community take part in socio-environmental education classes, and activities such as embroidery and sewing workshops, yoga sessions, and a community-run college prep course are also offered.
According to Portela, the project also teaches about the importance of trees and of preservation tied to food production in the context of increasingly unpredictable climate events. It also emphasizes the need for environmental education that fosters harmony between nature and the urban environment.
“When it rains, when there are strong winds, or when—like now—we go a long time without any rain and then it suddenly pours all at once, the trees need pruning, they need maintenance. So, with the lack of public services, many trees couldn’t withstand it, and branches fell. Still, I think we’re better off with the trees than without them. We always say this: it seems like the tree is the problem, but it’s not. The roots help hold the soil together. It could’ve been worse—there could’ve been a landslide (if it weren’t for the trees). They take the brunt of the rain and the wind, so the houses stay better protected. It’s still better with the trees. In Rio, a large part of the favelas are on hillsides, so trees play a crucial role in water drainage systems. They absorb the impact of the rain and keep it from hitting the soil directly. Their roots allow water to seep into the ground slowly, which helps prevent flooding and landslides—they do a huge job of containment. Trees save lives and need to be present. There’s this ongoing, daily work of trying to take care of that, but even so, sometimes people still cut down the trees, and there’s nothing we can do.” — Lorena Portela
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When it comes to public policy, Portela concludes that the current climate crisis demands a more responsible stance from government leaders—one that proposes and carries out long-term social improvements rather than short-term or inconsistent projects. The State’s neglect makes vulnerable those who most need infrastructure for climate resilience.
“In the favela context, based on the work we’ve been doing for years, there’s this dimension of being able to connect environmental protection policies to dignified housing and basic living conditions. Especially on a hillside favela, which is a very densely populated area, with little space, and where, structurally speaking, there’s no proper sanitation system, no solid waste collection, no sewerage, where water supply is precarious, and where people are far from quality markets with fresh, pesticide-free food… it’s tough. So, you can’t think about environmental policy as something separate from other social protection policies, or from access to healthcare… This really requires action across different levels of government, and a deep understanding of favelas. It’s all about developing processes that come from those who already hold leadership roles inside these areas, because those who live there are the ones who know how to think through the solutions. It’s a lot easier to come in with ‘kits’ and ready-made ideas—things that produce numbers and can quickly show results. But the processes that bring about structural change take longer. They involve strengthening initiatives that already exist in the favelas, like ours and many others connected to the environment and agriculture here in Rio de Janeiro. I believe that policies that strengthen these activities are the best way forward.” — Lorena Portela
To support Providência Agroecológica’s crowdfunding campaign through a US 501c3 tax exempt contribution, donate here clicking on “Earmark to Community Partner” and then letting us know via email with the heading “Providência Agroecológica” here.
About the author: Amanda Baroni Lopes is a journalism student at Unicarioca and was part of the first Journalism Laboratory organized by Maré’s community newspaper Maré de Notícias. She is the author of the Anti-Harassment Guide on Breaking, a handbook that explains what is and isn’t harassment to the Hip Hop audience and provides guidance on what to do in these situations. Lopes is from Morro do Timbau and currently lives in Vila do João, both favelas within the larger Maré favela complex.