Alfredo Sirkis
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Alfredo Hélio Syrkis (8 December 1950 – 10 July 2020) was a Brazilian writer (winner of the Jabuti Award, in 1981), journalist, urban environmental manager and former parliamentarian, having served as the chairman of the Joint Climate Change Congressional Commission – CMMC, and vice-chairman of the Commission of Foreign Affairs and National Defense of the House. He was the Brazilian Green Party's presidential candidate in the 1998 election. In 2010, he was elected to the Brazilian national parliament (2011–2014) but decided not to run for re-election in 2014. He was the executive director of the Brazilian Climate Center think tank. He was also the Coordinator of the Brazilian Forum for Climate Change from October 2016 to May 2019, working with government, business, and civil society stakeholders in the implementation of the Brazilian National Determined Commitment. He was a member of the Brazilian delegations to the UNFCCC Conferences of Berlin, Montreal, Bali, Copenhagen, Durban, Warsaw, Lima, Paris, Marrakesh, Bonn and Katowice. He was one of the promoters of the concept of carbon "positive pricing" and of the recognition of the "social and economic value of mitigation actions" enshrined in Paragraph 108 of the Paris Decision.


Writer and journalist

Alfredo Sirkis has published ten books, including two national best sellers, Os Carbonários, granted in 1981, Brazil's main literary prize – the Prêmio Jabuti – and Roleta Chilena. His more recent book is Descarbonário just published in Brazil that has an English version Decarbonizer to be published soon. It discusses climate change and his 30 years activism on the issue. He was an op-ed collaborator of the Brazilian newspapers:
O Globo ''O Globo'' (, ''The Globe'') is a Brazilian newspaper based in Rio de Janeiro. ''O Globo'' is the leading daily newspaper in the country and the most prominent print publication in the Grupo Globo media conglomerate. Founded by journalist Ir ...
,
Folha de São Paulo ''Folha de S.Paulo'' (sometimes spelled ''Folha de São Paulo''), also known as simply ''Folha'' (, ''Sheet''), is a Brazilian daily newspaper founded in 1921 under the name ''Folha da Noite'' and published in São Paulo by the Folha da Manhã c ...
,
O Estado de São Paulo O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), ...
,
Valor Econômico ''Valor Econômico'' is the largest financial newspaper in Brazil, according to the Circulation Verification Institute (IVC). It is the result of a partnership between two of the country's largest media groups: Grupo Globo (via Editora Globo) ...
, and Correio Brasiliense. He also wrote screenplays for TV and cinema. Sirkis has worked as a journalist since his years in exile:
Libération (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...
and Le Monde Diplomatique (1973–79, France), Expresso,
Diario Popular ''Diario Popular'' is a local newspaper published in Sarandí, Argentina. It is read widely in the surrounding southern Greater Buenos Aires suburbs of Avellaneda, Lanús, and Quilmes and maintains third place behind the two large Argentine new ...
,
Republica Republica are an English alternative rock band formed in 1994. They reached the height of their popularity from 1996 to 1999. The band went on hiatus in 2001 and reunited in 2008. The Republica sound was described by the band as " technopop p ...
, A Gazeta da Semana, Jornal Novo, Cadernos do Terceiro Mundo (1994–99 – Portugal) and then in Brazil: Veja (1982–83) and
Istoé ''IstoÉ'' ( Portuguese for 'This is'; often stylized ''ISTO É'') is a weekly news magazine in Portuguese published in Brazil, roughly the equivalent of the American magazines ''Time'' or ''Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news ...
(1993).


Local work

He was elected four times to the Rio de Janeiro
City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...
(88, 92, 96 and 2008) and served as Rio's Commissioner for the Environment (1993–1996) and for Urban Management (2001–2006) cumulatively, with the presidency of the Pereira Passos Municipal Urban Planning Institute (IPP).


Councilman

He was the most voted councilman in the 1988 and re-elected in 1992, 1996, and 2008. As a city legislator he created the Environmental Protection Areas (APA) of Prainha, Bosque da Freguesia and Lagoa de Marapendi. He was the rapporteur for the environmental chapters of the Municipal Constitution and the Directory Plan and author of the so-called Sirkis Law: tax stimulants for environmental projects, that helped to establish the Global Forum 9, the civil society event during the 1992 Earth Summit, in Rio. He chaired the parliamentary investigation commission of illegal private security activities, and was Commissioner for the Environment. As Rio's commissioner for the environment he was responsible for the construction of the largest bicycle network in
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, developed the community reforestation in 47 hillside
favelas Favela () is an hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella name for several types of impoverished neighborhoods in Brazil. The term, which means slum or ghetto, was first used in the Morro da Providência, Slum of Providência in the center of Rio de J ...
(shanty towns); established the GDA (Environmental Protection Group) within the Municipal Guard and negotiated the end of protracted conflicts with developers in Prainha, Bosque da Freguesia and Morro Dois Irmãos obtaining environmental gains leading to the creation of new public owned parks with satisfactory solutions for the affected business interests. He structured the participatory Jacarepaguá Lowlands Water Council (CONSAG) with public and civil society stakeholders and the City Environmental Council (CONSEMAC). He represented Rio de Janeiro at several international city conferences, including Berlin (95), Saitama (95), Seoul (2002), Paris (2003), Athens (2003) and Berlin (2005) and was one of the executive directors of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) and of Metropolis (the organization of cities with over one million inhabitants).


Commissioner for Urban Management and President of the IPP

He was the commissioner for urban management and president of the IPP – Pereira Passos Urban Planning Institute (2001 to 2006). His team developed the planning of 18 urban key projects for the revitalization of the Port Area. He promoted the reconstruction of the Circo Voador –solving another bitter urban conflict—facilitated the construction of
Cidade do Samba Cidade do Samba (Portuguese language, Portuguese, ''Samba City''), formally known as Cidade do Samba Joãosinho Trinta, is a complex of buildings in the neighborhood of Gamboa, Rio de Janeiro, Gamboa, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is used for Samba s ...
, Vila Olimpica da Gamboa and of the Convention Center at Cidade Nova. He established protective policies for the neighborhoods of Jardim Botânico, Botafogo and Lagoa. He structured the City Council of Urban Policies (Compur) and created the Urban Regularization Coordination (CRU) that intervened in 61 favelas establishing rules for legal construction to integrate these communities to the city.


Political activist

Alfredo Sirkis became a political activist during the military regime (1964–1985) and soon one of the leaders of the Rio high school students’ movement in 1968. In the early seventies, he took part in urban guerrilla activities against the regime, in the VPR, a Guevarist group led by former army captain
Carlos Lamarca Carlos Lamarca (; October 27, 1937 – September 17, 1971) was a Brazilian Army Captain who deserted to join the armed struggle against the Brazilian military dictatorship. He was part of the Popular Revolutionary Vanguard (''Vanguarda Popul ...
. The group was decimated and Sirkis managed to escape the country to exile. He lived in France,
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
,
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
and
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
from 1971 to 1979. He was in Chile during the 1973 coup and in Argentina the following year. He worked as a journalist in France and Portugal. Back to Brazil after the 1979 amnesty, he worked as a reporter for weekly magazines, Veja and Istoé and became one of the organizers of the environmental groups that mobilized in the 1980s to defend the Amazon rainforest and to address urban ecology issues. He collaborated closely with late rubber tapper leader Chico Mendes and organized the Salve a
Amazonia The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses , of which are covered by the rainf ...
demonstration two weeks before his murder, in 1988. Sirkis was one of the founders of the Brazilian Green Party, in 1986 and its national president from 1991 to 1999. In 1998, he was the green candidate in the presidential election. In 2009 and part of 2010 he was the manager of
Marina Silva Maria Osmarina Marina da Silva Vaz de Lima (born Maria Osmarina da Silva; 8 February 1958), known as Marina Silva, is a Brazilian politician and environmentalist, currently serving as Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, a position ...
’s presidential campaign. He left the Green Party in 2013 and has since quit partisan activism.


Federal Deputy

In 2011, Sirkis traveled to China and visited several Chinese renewable energy projects. Inspired by the experienced, upon his return to Brazil Sirkis secured funding for a
solar PV Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to conve ...
worker training program in Rio. Sirkis wrote that he found the expertise of Chinese solar firms impressive and lamented that Brazil was lagging in solar energy development.


NGO Organizer

He was one of the organizers of the Hiroshima Never More event (1982) in Angra dos Reis. He was the executive vice-president of Ondazul Foundation (1997–2000), whose president was the composer and singer
Gilberto Gil Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (; born 26 June 1942), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Ministry of Culture (Brazil), Minister of ...
. He organized the Mangue Vivo and Preventório reforestation projects and Recycling and Culture, that produced furniture from plastic bottles. In 2015, he founded the Brazil Climate Center a think-tank that is also the Brazilian branch of former American Vice-president
Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...
’s
Climate Reality Project The Climate Reality Project is a non-profit organization involved in education and advocacy related to climate change. The Climate Reality Project came into being in July 2011 as the consolidation of two environmental groups, the Alliance for Cli ...
. After Sirkis's death, Gore renamed an annual award given out by the Project as a tribute to Sirkis. As a member of civil society, he coordinated the Brazilian Forum for Climate Change, chaired by the
President of Brazil The president of Brazil (), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil () or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head of government of Brazil. The president leads the executive branch of the ...
and integrated by approximately one hundred participants, half government, half civil society with NGOs, business, and academia.


Death

Sirkis died in a car accident on 10 July 2020, at the age of 69.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sirkis, Alfredo 1950 births 2020 deaths Municipal Chamber of Rio de Janeiro councillors Brazilian journalists Brazilian environmentalists Politicians from Rio de Janeiro (city) Jewish Brazilian writers Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Brazil) from Rio de Janeiro (state) Road incident deaths in Brazil