Environmental sustainability and human well-being indicators from the ecosystem perspective in the Middle Paraíba Region, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil.
Population urbanization is a global trend, and socioeconomic activities in urban areas cause changes that affect the environment and human well-being beyond the specific territories, thus connecting urban to non-urban areas and creating city-regions. This article's objective, from an ecosystem perspective, is to gather a set of information on municipalities (counties) belonging to the Middle Paraíba River Valley Region in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in order to identify conditions and trends in environmental sustainability and well-being. The conceptual framework adopted here was that of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, identifying direct and indirect driving forces that affect human well-being, with health as a component of the latter. We used a set of available public-domain data and information sources on the municipalities, grouped by socioeconomic and environmental conditions and the soundness of institutional structural well-being for sustainability. The indicators used here point to a process of degradation in the ecosystem services that has still not been prevented by the prevailing institutional structure, thus increasing constraints on well-being and the spread of socio-environmental impacts in the middle and long terms.
Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sergio Arouca, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. carlosmf@ensp.fiocruz.br
Carlos Machado de
CM
Freitas
Gabriel Eduardo
GE
Schütz
Simone Gomes de
SG
Oliveira
D001938:Brazil; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D017753:Ecosystem; D004782:Environmental Health; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D011203:Poverty; D012935:Social Justice; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
D004785:Environmental Pollutants