- The survey “More Data Better Health – Climate and Health in the Legal Amazon” evaluated data from the nine states that make up the region for the first time.
- A third of the population (32%) says they have been directly affected by climate change.
- The survey included people who self-declared as belonging to traditional communities (indigenous peoples, quilombolas, ribeirinhos, rubber tappers and others), who feel most affected by climate change and assume the most responsibilities in the face of the phenomenon.
- The research was conducted by Umane and Vital Strategies, with support from the Devive Institute.
São Paulo, October 8, 2025 – A new study, conducted among the population of the Legal Amazon, reveals that a third of the region’s residents (32%) report being directly affected by climate change. Among those who identify as part of traditional peoples and communities, such as indigenous peoples, quilombolas, ribeirinhos, rubber tappers, among others, the perception of having already been directly affected by climate change rises even further, to 42.2%. These data are part of the survey “More Data Better Health – Climate and Health in the Legal Amazon”, coordinated by Umane and Vital Strategies, with support from the Devive Institute, available at Observatório da Saúde Pública (Public Health Observatory).
This is the first time the research focuses on residents of the nine states of the Legal Amazon — Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins —, segmenting data for people belonging and not belonging to traditional peoples and communities, such as artisanal fishermen, indigenous peoples, ribeirinhos, extractivists and quilombolas. In all, 4,037 people were consulted between May and July 2025, expanding knowledge about a region historically underrepresented in population surveys.
“Addressing the climate crisis in the Amazon is more than an environmental agenda: it is an agenda of public health, social protection and insurance of rights. At such an important moment, with the arrival of COP30, this module of More Data Better Health aims to bring original data, focused on local specificities, to inform public policies that protect territories and their populations, always with a view to reducing inequities”, comments Thais Junqueira, general superintendent of Umane.
The study shows that global warming is already affecting the daily lives of residents of the Legal Amazon. Among the main factors mentioned are increased energy bills, reported by 83.4% of respondents; increased average temperature (82.4%); increased air pollution (75%); greater occurrence of environmental disasters (74.4%); and increased food prices (73%). Respondents could check more than one option.
When asked about the perception of weather events over the past two years, about two-thirds of the population of the Legal Amazon (64.7%) reported having experienced heatwaves, with temperatures above the local average. In addition, about a third reported following climate events of persistent drought, exacerbated by more heat and less rain (29.6%), followed in percentage by forest fires with intense smoke affecting daily activities (29.2%), environmental deforestation (28.7%), and worsening air quality (26.7%).
Worsening water quality was reported by 19.9% of respondents, and problems in food production were mentioned by 17.1%. “These may seem like small percentages, but when we understand that they represent around 5 million people, we see the huge impact that climate change represents on people’s daily lives, making it difficult to access basic items”, underlines Luciana Vasconcelos Sardinha, Deputy Director of Noncommunicable Diseases at Vital Strategies and technical manager for the survey.
Among those who identified as part of a traditional people or community, there was a greater experience of worsening water quality (24.1%) and problems in food production (21.4%) compared to the general population (16.5% and 13.8% respectively). “These indicators reveal ever higher percentages among traditional peoples and communities, which demonstrates the vulnerability of these groups, often situated in areas of climate risk and heavily dependent on natural resources for subsistence”, adds Luciana.
The survey also reveals that nine out of ten residents of the region believe that climate change has been occurring in Brazil and the world over the last two years (88.4%) and that we are already experiencing global warming (90.6%).
The survey also provides an unprecedented portrait of how residents of the region perceive and experience the effects of climate change. Almost four out of ten residents of the Legal Amazon (39.7%) said they know someone who has been directly affected by climate change. For those belonging to traditional peoples and communities, this number rises to 48.4%, while among the rest, the percentage is 32.8%. When asked if they perceived environmental changes in places important to their lives, one in three people responded in the affirmative (31.6%), a percentage that rises to 38.2% among those who self-declared as part of traditional communities.
“The study shows that the climate crisis is not just an environmental issue, but a public health challenge. We identified that a third of the residents of the Legal Amazon have already suffered direct climate impacts and that most depend exclusively on SUS, the Brazilian Unified Health System, for healthcare. These data reassert the need for policies that integrate health and climate, with responses capable of reducing inequities and protecting, in particular, the groups most at risk, such as women, low-income families and traditional peoples and communities”, says Pedro De Paula, country director at Vital Strategies Brazil.
Behavior
Climate change in the Legal Amazon region has also altered behaviors. Half of the population reduced practices that they believe could contribute to worsening climate change (53.3%), and 38.4% said they felt guilty about wasting energy. Most residents usually separate garbage for recycling (64%), a practice even more common among traditional peoples and communities (70.1%), compared to the population outside these groups (59.2%). More than half of residents of traditional communities said they wished they had behaved more sustainably, in contrast to 40.5% among those not in these communities.
The feeling of guilt for wasting electricity was also more frequent among traditional peoples and communities (45.1% against 33%). The survey showed that three out of four people (74.9%) have the habit of turning off the lights, with this percentage being significantly higher among women (79.7%). The belief that it is possible to act to help solve climate change was shared by 55.7% of those belonging to traditional peoples and communities, against 39.8% of others.
“The data show that traditional peoples and communities are not only more exposed to the effects of climate change, but also more aware of its consequences. This happens because they experience direct transformations in their territories, in their ways of life, in their sociocultural and economic practices, and in their community networks”, explains Luciana Vasconcelos Sardinha.
Methodology
More Data Better Health – Climate and Health in the Legal Amazon strengthens the consolidation of an unprecedented methodology in Brazil, now applied for the third time. This methodology had already been used in other surveys in the More Data Better Health series, which evaluated Primary Health Care and the Everyday Discrimination Scale, always to promote public policies based on the data collected.
The survey was conducted between May 27 and July 24, 2025, 100% online, through programmatic ads, without any incentive or reward, reaching a representative sample of the adult population of the nine states in the region. The data underwent rigorous statistical adjustments based on the 2022 Census and the 2019 National Health Survey, ensuring reliable and comparable results.
As in previous editions, the methodology proved to be innovative and effective, combining agility, scalability and reduced cost, in addition to eliminating human interaction biases. “Because it is online, the survey reaches people who do not have access to the telephone network, in addition to being cheaper and faster than face-to-face methodologies, especially in regions with remote and difficult-to-access areas”, explains Luciana. The results are weighted and presented with 95% confidence intervals, ensuring statistical accuracy. By proving replicable and consistent, the survey format confirms its potential to contribute to the Brazilian health ecosystem, offering quality data that can, both nimbly and assertively, guide public policies.
The data from this and other modules of More Data Better Health are available at Umane’s Public Health Observatory: https://observatoriosaudepublica.com.br/pesquisas/mais-dados-mais-saude/
About Vital Strategies
Vital Strategies is a global health organization that believes all people should be protected by strong and equitable health policies and systems. Our team works with governments and civil society to design and implement evidence-based strategies and policies to address some of the world’s greatest public health challenges. The result is millions of people living longer, healthier lives.
About Umane
Umane is an independent, non-profit civil society organization that supports initiatives in the field of Public Health to contribute to a more robust Unified Health System (SUS) and improve the quality of life of people living in Brazil. In 2024, Umane supported 33 projects, carried out collaboratively with 89 partners, among various sectors of health, civil society and government.
Umane operates through three programs: Comprehensive Care for Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), with initiatives for controlling risk factors, screening, expanding access to healthcare and monitoring risk factors in Primary Health Care; Strengthening Primary Health Care (PHC) as a coordinator of care in SUS, through support for initiatives aimed at operational improvements, team productivity, integration of services and the incorporation of new technologies to the healthcare system, and the Women’s, Children’s and Adolescent Health program, funding programs that follow and monitor unfavorable outcomes during pregnancy and the health conditions of children and adolescents in the context of Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases and risk factors.
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