System dynamics modeling and spatialization with Geographic Information System to support the assessment of the significance of environmental impacts.

• Grant number: 22/12935-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: June 01, 2023
• End date: March 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering - Environmental Sanitation
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Montaño
• Grantee: João Fontes Lopes Neto
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) encompasses the concepts, procedures, methods and instruments to support decision making, applied in order to preventively inform the possible environmental effects and their consequences on the quality of the environment resulting from the implementation of policies, plans , programs and development projects. The literature reports important limitations in the practice of EIA, one of which is the inability to determine the significance of environmental impacts. This research project aims to develop a methodology for applying the MDS as a support for the assessment of the significance of environmental impacts. To this end, conceptual frameworks will be elaborated based on the state of the art of the following topics: assessment of the significance of environmental impacts; modeling the dynamics of socio-ecological systems and systems. It is expected as a result the definition of criteria and methodological procedures for modeling the dynamics of systems with the approach of socioecological systems for the characterization of the attributes of the affected environment in order to contribute to the assessment of the significance of environmental impacts. This project aims to contribute to one of the main gaps pointed out by the literature, namely the assessment of the significance of environmental impacts, understood as one of the central stages of the EIA.