Analysis of differential exposure of socio-demographic groups to situations of environmental risk in São Paulo, Brazil

Humberto P Alves, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)

This article attempts to make operational the concept of environmental inequality through the use of geoprocessing methodologies. The objective is to pinpoint and measure the association between disadvantaged socioeconomic conditions and greater exposure to environmental risks. In other words, this work is an analysis of situations of environmental inequality in São Paulo city based on the level of risk exposure of different social groups. The methodology is based on the construction of a Geographical Information System through which the digital layers of environmental risk areas are overlapped with the digital meshes of the census sectors of the 1991 and 2000 IBGE demographic censuses. The results show that people living in risky areas are in a much worse socioeconomic condition than those living outside them. Moreover, the results clearly show that in recent years there has been an increase in the level of environmental inequality in the city of São Paulo.