scholarly journals Socio-Ecological Conflicts in a Global South Metropolis: Opportunities and Threats of a Potential Greenway in the São Paulo Metropolitan Region

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robson da Silva Moreno ◽  
Diego Rafael Galvão Cesar Braga ◽  
Luis Felipe Xavier

Greenways are a measure of environmental remediation within a broad framework aimed at promoting urban greening and adaptation to climate change. The typical characteristics of large urban agglomerations, including land use (such as commercial, industrial, and residential areas) with few public spaces and fragmented landscapes, make it difficult to apply these solutions to the urban fabric, forcing decision-makers and planners to act in informal settlements, highways, and industrial parks. One proposed area is an enclave with unused or underutilized lots, where fragments of the Atlantic Forest, parks, landfills, and rapidly expanding informal settlements can be found. This manuscript examines the socioeconomic and environmental processes that shaped this potential urban greenway between Santo André, Mauá, and Ribeirão Pires, which are part of the São Paulo Metropolitan Region (SPRM), the largest in South America. A survey was conducted based on municipal and regional plans, the environmental and urban laws of Brazil, and the socioeconomic history of this part of the SPRM. In addition, satellite images were used to analyze land use evolution through geotechnologies. Finally, we prepared land use recommendations, considering opportunities and threats, highlighting the possibilities of protection and expansion of the Atlantic Forest. To this end, we examined the literature on environmental urban planning and design, green infrastructure, and other concepts. This study intends to stimulate researchers, planners, and decision-makers regarding the urban greening process in the Global South. According to the recommendations, this stimulus would develop these concepts according to the real situation of the region, which would combine the protection of wild habitats and urban environmental amenities. However, this effort makes no sense if one of the defining Global South characteristics not addressed is social inequality. Therefore, we recommend that an effort be made to develop and incorporate processes from urban greening in slum upgrading.

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 750-767
Author(s):  
Gabriela Nicoleti de Freitas

Abstract The 2013–2015 drought in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo exposed the lack of resilience of the regional water supply system, highly dependent on the Cantareira reservoirs. In this paper, inflows to each of the four main Cantareira reservoirs are tested for systematic change. Persistent trends in streamflow, rainfall, temperature and evapotranspiration are first evaluated. Streamflow was also tested for step change. Double-mass curves were employed to assess modification in the precipitation–runoff relationship. Subsequently, we used the climate elasticity method and the ABCD model to quantify the relative contribution of climate and human activities into the detected trends. Only Cachoeira and Atibainha sub-basins showed a significant downward trend in streamflow. The results for step change were also significant, and the year of occurrence coincided with breakpoints in precipitation–runoff relationship. For both Cachoeira and Atibainha, human activities had a more significant impact on streamflow reduction than climate variability. Land use and cover maps suggest that the reduction of pasture/abandoned land parallel to an increase in reforestation/silviculture is behind streamflow reduction. The results highlight the importance of coordinating land-use patterns and water management, as an important contributor beyond any considerations of a changing climate. Implications for better managing regional water resources are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulo Mantey Domingues Caetano ◽  
Hélia Maria Santa Bárbara Pereira ◽  
Lara Cavalcanti Ribeiro Figueiredo ◽  
Patrícia Marra Sepe ◽  
Leandro Luiz Giatti

In 2013 the urban authority for São Paulo city, Brazil, was interested in incorporating environmental aspects into the urban licensing process of diverse urban developments. To overcome concepts related simply to soil sealing, the initiative gave rise to a wide range of principles associated with environmental services and the consideration that green areas in this megacity are unequally distributed. Given the costs involved in analyzing each case and the legal uncertainty among entrepreneurs, it has become a tradition in Brazil for authorities in charge of urban licensing to follow general regulations rather than case-by-case studies, except in high-impact developments. In response, the São Paulo municipal government developed during the period from 2013 to 2016 a governing instrument to deal with these issues, known as the Environmental Quota (EQ). For that, the following guiding principles were established: (a) it should have a solid theoretical basis, with incentives for consistent public participation; (b) it should be flexible in such a way that it can provide a general framework within which a project designer can make decisions, rather than a set of rigidly determined solutions; and (c) it should consider inequalities in the availability of urban green infrastructure throughout the city. This paper will first detail the political-institutional context in which the EQ and its guidelines were established and implemented, then provide a general overview of the tool and the theoretical frameworks within which it was developed, and, finally, discuss the complex social decision-making process of its legal constraints. Moreover, it analyzes the implementation and application of the EQ to examine its effectiveness and how it relates to the city's gentrification. Furthermore, it is considered the replicability potential of the EQ to expand both the supply and distribution of green infrastructure and environmental services throughout the urban environment and, thus, contribute toward mitigating the intricate problems of urban environments in the Global South.


Author(s):  
Marli Aparecida Perim ◽  
Maria Dolores Alves Cocco

This study sought to support the mapping of occupied areas on the margin of rivers through the use of geoprocessing imaging technologies combined with the application of indices that measure the effects of the anthropic transformations in the environment, in order to verify the environmental degradation. The Anthropic Transformation Index is demonstrably efficient for space-time analyses on river basins and at environmental protection areas. In order to develop a data base to support public policies related to the preservation of the Una River Basin, this article presents the effects of the anthropic actions in the years 1962 to 2014, in the registry district of Taubaté, in the Vale do Paraíba Metropolitan Region. In order to collect data using photos and aerial images of the territory, geo-referencing and vectorization were performed by the QGIS program, which enabled quantification of the occupation and land use. Five occupational categories types had been identified in the area: watercourses, riparian forest, field or pasture, denser forest and urbanization. Afterwards, the ITA was applied and the index 5.5 was obtained, which indicates a degraded area, based on the percentage of land use and occupation. It was concluded that the greatest change occurred in a 52-year time span, in the landscape of registry district, where a marked anthropic pressure was observed.it is the significant anthropic pressure, close to the watercourses, towards the Una River Basin, in the city of Taubaté, in the state of São Paulo.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Júlio Barboza Chiquetto ◽  
Maria Elisa Siqueira Silva ◽  
Rita Yuri Ynoue ◽  
Flávia Noronha Dutra Ribieiro ◽  
Débora Souza Alvim ◽  
...  

A poluição do ar é influenciada por fatores naturais e antropogênicos. Quatro pontos de monitoramento (veicular, comercial, residencial e background urbano (BGU))da poluição do ar em São Paulo foram avaliados durante 16 anos, revelando diferenças significativas devidoao uso do solo em todas as escalas temporais. Na escala diurna, as concentrações de poluentes primários são duas vezes mais altas nos pontos veicular e residencial do que no ponto BGU, onde a concentração de ozonio (O3) é 50% mais alta. Na escala sazonal, as concentrações de monóxido de carbono(CO) variaram em 80% devido ao uso do solo, e 55% pela sazonalidade.As variações sazonais ede uso do solo exercem impactos similares nas concentrações de O3 e monóxido de nitrogênio (NO). Para o material particulado grosso (MP10) e o dióxido de nitrogênio(NO2), as variações sazonais são mais intensas do que as por uso do solo. Na série temporal de 16 anos, o ponto BGU apresentou correlações mais fortes e significativas entre a média mensal de ondas longas (ROL) e o O3 (0,48) e o MP10 (0,37), comparadas ao ponto veicular (0,33 e 0,22, respectivamente). Estes resultados confirmam que o uso do solo urbano tem um papel significativo na concentração de poluentes em todas as escalas de análise, embora a sua influência se torne menos pronunciada em escalas maiores, conforme a qualidade do ar transita de um sistema antropogênico para um sistema natural. Isto poderá auxiliar decisões sobre políticas públicas em megacidades envolvendo a modificação do uso do solo.


2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo Seron Sanches ◽  
Thiago Fernandes Martins ◽  
Ileyne Tenório Lopes ◽  
Luís Flávio da Silva Costa ◽  
Pablo Henrique Nunes ◽  
...  

In the present study, we report tick infestations on wild birds in plots of the Atlantic Forest reforested fragments with native species and plots reforested with Eucalyptus tereticornis in the municipality of Rio Claro, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. A total of 256 birds were captured: 137 individuals of 33 species, in planted native forest; and 128 individuals of 37 species, in planted Eucalyptus tereticornis forest. Nymphs of two tick species were found on the birds: Amblyomma calcaratumand Amblyomma longirostre, the former was more abundant in the fragments reforested with Atlantic forest native species, and the latter in the fragment reforested with E. tereticornis. New host records were presented for A. calcaratum.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauro Silva Ruiz ◽  
Rosicler Barbosa De Oliveira ◽  
Aldo Struffaldi ◽  
Marcelo Luiz Dias Da Silva Gabriel ◽  
Evandro Bocatto

Hoehnea ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 749-757 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrícia Giampaoli ◽  
Natalie do Valle Capelli ◽  
Armando Reis Tavares ◽  
Francine Faia Fernandes ◽  
Marisa Domingos ◽  
...  

Tillandsia usneoides is an epiphytic bromeliad that has been used as a universal bioindicator. The species accumulates metals and presents foliar scale variations when exposed to air pollutants. This study aimed to use the variations in foliar scales as microscopic markers of pollutant effects in the Metropolitan Region of Campinas (MRC), São Paulo State, Brazil. T. usneoides plants were exposed for 12 weeks during dry and wet seasons, totaling four exposures, at five sites in the MRC. Samples were selected before each exposure for initial evaluation of the plants (T0). Leaf fragments were fixed in glutaraldehyde and total scale density and anomalous scale percentage were evaluated. Plants exposed in the MRC showed anomalies and changes in number of subperipheral cells of leaf scales. When compared to T0, T. usneoides presented higher total scale density and anomalous scale percentage at disturbed sites, thus the species can be used as a pollution bioindicator for MRC.


2018 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilian O. Guimarães ◽  
Miklos Maximiliano Bajay ◽  
Eliana F. Monteiro ◽  
Gerhard Wunderlich ◽  
Sidney E. Santos ◽  
...  

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 257-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cybele de Oliveira Araujo ◽  
Thais Helena Condez ◽  
Rafael Parelli Bovo ◽  
Fernanda da Cruz Centeno ◽  
Amom Mendes Luiz

The herpetofauna of São Paulo State, Brazil, can be characterized as the most well-known in the country. However, despite the large number of studies in this area, there are still many sampling gaps within biomes such as the Atlantic Forest that are considered global conservation priorities due to the high rate of endemism and human disturbance. As a result of political and historical pressure, this biome has been reduced to less than 12% of its original extent and, despite its importance for global biodiversity conservation, only a small percentage of its original vegetation cover (1%) has some form of legal protection. This is the case of the Parque Estadual Turístico do Alto Ribeira (PETAR) which, together with the Parque Estadual de Intervales, Parque Estadual Carlos Botelho and Mosaico de Unidades de Conservação de Jacupiranga, forms of an ombrophilous forest continuum of 360 thousand ha in the south of São Paulo State. This study presents a list of amphibians and reptiles from the PETAR, with information on the local distribution and habitat use of the species. The survey was conducted from October to December 2009, completing a total of 15 sampling days using four complementary methods of active sampling: visual encounters, auditory encounters, searches by car and incidental encounters. We recorded a total of 91 species belonging to 53 genera and 24 families. This high diversity can be attributed to the existence of a wide variety of habitats and microhabitats in this region, such as the various aquatic sites used by many species of anuran amphibians. Moreover, the PETAR features a large altitudinal gradient (80 - 1,160 m elevation) that gives a large climatic, geological and hydrological heterogeneity to the area. This inventory is an important contribution to the expansion of knowledge about these assemblages in the Atlantic Forest to the south of Serra de Paranapiacaba mountain range, and provides support for the conservation of these groups in São Paulo State.


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