The World Bank Group has announced a $119.2 million investment to strengthen flood resilience in Brazil’s Santa Catarina state, aiming to reduce disaster risks, protect jobs, and safeguard communities in one of the country’s most economically important and climate-vulnerable regions.
The project is expected to benefit around 420,000 people across 54 municipalities, many of whom live in low-income, high-risk areas exposed to recurring flooding and landslides. The initiative focuses on improving disaster preparedness and reducing the economic impact of extreme weather events.
Santa Catarina is a key industrial and agricultural hub in Brazil, with strong manufacturing, technology, and agribusiness sectors. Its Itajaí Valley alone generates about one-third of the state’s jobs and hosts the Port of Itajaí, one of Brazil’s largest container ports and a major center for exports. However, the same region is highly vulnerable to flooding, which has previously caused severe economic losses and disrupted trade and employment.
Between 1991 and 2023, flood and landslide events in Santa Catarina caused more than $7.2 billion in damages, affecting over 20 million people. The devastating floods of 2008, which submerged much of Itajaí, highlighted the region’s exposure and the need for stronger climate resilience infrastructure.
The World Bank project will support a combination of structural and nature-based solutions. Planned investments include river channel improvements, dredging, embankment reinforcement, and the construction of floodgates along the Itajaí-Mirim River. The program also includes new upstream flood control dams as part of a broader long-term mitigation strategy.
In addition, the project will expand early warning systems across the state, improving coordination between climate monitoring agencies and civil defense authorities to ensure faster and more effective responses to extreme weather events. Nature-based solutions will also be integrated to complement traditional flood control infrastructure.
The initiative is part of Santa Catarina’s wider “Proteção Levada a Sério” (Protection Taken Seriously) program, a multi-year effort to invest around $1 billion in climate resilience. The World Bank-backed project is also designed to serve as a model for other flood-prone regions in Brazil and across Latin America, demonstrating how climate adaptation investments can help protect both lives and economic stability.
