Environmental injustices on green and blue infrastructure: Urban nexus in a macrometropolitan territory

Author(s)

Amaral, Mateus Henrique ^[1] ; Benites-Lazaro, Lira Luz ^{[1, 2]} ; Sinisgalli, Paulo Antonio de Almeida ^[3] ; Alves, Humberto Prates da Fonseca ^[4] ; Giatti, Leandro Luiz ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Sch Publ Hlth, Dept Environm Hlth, Ave Dr Arnaldo 715, BR-01246904 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Natl Inst Space Res, Ctr Earth Syst Sci, Ave Astronautas 1758, BR-12227010 Sao Jose Dos Campos - Brazil

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Energy & Environm, Ave Prof Luciano Gualberto 1289, BR-01246904 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[4] Univ Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Social Sci, Estr Caminho Velho 333, BR-07252312 Guarulhos - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION; v. 289, MAR 20 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 1

Abstract

Green-blue infrastructure in urban regions guarantees the provision of resources such as water, energy, and food, which are interdependent and fundamental in ensuring human development. In this study, we analyzed the environmental injustice issue relationships of the supply and production of water, energy, and food in the Sao Paulo Macrometropolis, Brazil. Its 180 municipalities were compared and categorized into `losers' and `winners' based on the urban nexus approach, the proportion of green infrastructure, and human development. We applied a neural network self-organizing map to official publicly available data to obtain clusters of municipalities featuring combinations of 19 indicators. The results showed four clusters with three containing characteristics of receivers (Capital, Hinterland, and Developed Receivers) and one of providers, the latter aggregating municipalities with a strong role in providing water, food, and subsidies for energy generation. However, the providers also included the municipalities that had the greatest inequities in terms of human development and social inclusion. The importance of evaluating the co-benefits of green-blue infrastructure in urban spaces can serve as an adaptation strategy to both improve natural resource management and offer support to different processes and ecosystem functions. Our study provides a comprehensive understanding of complex urban systems by considering environmental justice and nexus synergies. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 15/03804-9 - Environmental governance of macrometropolis paulista in face of climate variability
• Grantee: Pedro Roberto Jacobi
• Support Opportunities: Research Program on Global Climate Change - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 19/24479-0 - Water-energy- food nexus of biofuels: analyzing policy impacts
• Grantee: Lira Luz Benites Lazaro
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• FAPESP's process: 17/17796-3 - Conflicts and power relations: the water-energy-food nexus in the production of ethanol in the State of São Paulo
• Grantee: Lira Luz Benites Lazaro
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral