DEMOGRAPHY, HEALTH AND GREEN AREAS IN THE PREPARATION OF A SOCIAL ENVIRONMENTAL VULNERABILITY INDEX IN THE MUNICIPALITIES OF THE MICROREGION OF PORTO SEGURO.
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 green area (“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, (Urban Tree Coverage; Municipal Human Development Index; Basic Education Development Index; Estimated Population; Population Density; Sanitary Exhaustion; Waste Collection; SUS Health Facilities; Child Mortality and Arboviruses), available from public agency sites. The vulnerability concept is a term still in a construction process, as it is commonly used for various areas of knowledge, and can be delimited according to its use in various fields of this plurality and variety. The IVSA + V is a synthetic index for considering the interaction between demographic, health and environmental data, but considering urban tree coverage as one of the most important determinants of the vulnerability assessment process. The municipalities of Itagimirim, Itamaraju, Itanhém, Lajedão, Mucuri, Santa Cruz Cabralia and Vereda reported a low IVSA + V whilst the IVSA + V was moderated for most cities: Alcobaça, Caravelas, Eunápolis, Guaratinga, Ibirapuã, Itabela, Jucuruçu, Medeiros Neto, Nova Viçosa, Porto Seguro, Prado and Teixeira de Freitas. These results are in line with a recent study entitled “Metropolises, vegetation cover, green areas and health”, a study area that has been gaining prominence, suggesting that a “greener” environment, improves the resilience of cities and their populations, influencing positively on their life and health quality.