DEMOGRAPHY, HEALTH AND GREENNESS IN THE PREPARATION OF A SOCIAL ENVIRONMENTAL VULNERABILITY INDEX IN THE MUNICIPALITIES OF PORTO SEGURO’S MICRO-REGION IN THE STATE OF BAHIA
Arboreal Coverage; Cities; Resilience; Environmental Health.
The Knowledge of a region's vulnerability to health challenges helps to anticipate scenarios, better plan, define and operationalize coping strategies. This study developed a “greenness” socioenvironmental vulnerability index (IVSA + V), considering three dimensions: demographic, health/sanitary and environmental in the microregion of Porto Seguro, Bahia, through secondary data of ten variables, available at public agency sites. Two of the three largest cities in the region, Teixeira de Freitas and Eunápolis, had IVSA + V high. The other larger city, Porto Seguro, is better served by urban afforestation and has a moderate IVSA + V. Two small towns, Caravelas and Prado, had low IVSA + V, in line with high rates of urban arboreal coverage. The remaining fifteen cities had moderate IVSA + V. The IVSA + V is a synthetic index to consider the interaction between socio-demographic, health/sanitary and environmental data, but considering arboreal coverage as one of the most valued determinants in vulnerability evaluation. These results agree with increasing studies indicating that a greener environment improves the resilience of cities and their populations. This is the first study that includes arboreal coverage as an environmental variable in the analysis of socio-environmental vulnerability in Brazil.