• Energy Research

Urban agriculture (UA) initiatives have been increasing in recent years as a nature-based solution for achieving many of the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals. However, climate change is expected to have effects on rainfall patterns, which are likely to impact urban food production. The main aim of this paper is to evaluate how issues related to water sources for UA have been addressed in the scientific literature from two different socioeconomic and environmental realities, Brazil and Italy. The method involved a systematic literature review, considering the PRISMA guidelines. The Web of Science database and papers' reference lists were used for retrieving original articles, published in 2000-2020 interval, indexed on scientific databases, and containing data on the typology and quality of water sources used in UA studies. After applying the eligibility criteria, 191 papers were selected - Brazil (108) and Italy (83). The last five years have seen an intensification of studies into issues involving water. Tap water has been identified as an important source of irrigation water for UA, if not the main one. No studies were found that addressed the impact of UA on public water supply systems. The findings point towards more sustainable practices involving the reuse of water and adaptive practices towards water security. We identified that innovative production systems like container farming, aquaponics and indoor agriculture, as well as cultivation of fruit trees, wild edible plants and varieties with low water requirements can represent water-saving options.

Urban ecosystem services have become a main issue in contemporary urban sustainable development, whose efforts are challenged by the phenomena of world urbanization and climate change. This article presents a study about the ecosystem services of green infrastructure towards better respiratory health in a socioeconomic scenario typical of the Global South countries. The study involved a data science approach comprising basic and multivariate statistical analysis, as well as data mining, for the municipalities of the state of Paraná, in Brazil’s South region. It is a cross-sectional study in which multiple data sets are combined and analyzed to uncover relationships or patterns. Data were extracted from national public domain databases. We found that, on average, the municipalities with more area of biodiversity per inhabitant have lower rates of hospitalizations resulting from respiratory diseases (CID-10 X). The biodiversity index correlates inversely with the rates of hospitalizations. The data analysis also demonstrated the importance of socioeconomic issues in the environmental-respiratory health phenomena. The data mining analysis revealed interesting associative rules consistent with the learning from the basic statistics and multivariate analysis. Our findings suggest that green infrastructure provides ecosystem services towards better respiratory health, but these are entwined with socioeconomics issues. These results can support public policies towards environmental and health sustainable management.

Resumo Esta pesquisa busca avaliar se a emissão de alertas de eventos adversos e desastres via Short Message Service, com base no Código de Endereçamento Postal (CEP) cadastrado pelas pessoas, é um meio eficaz para torná-las preparadas. Os procedimentos metodológicos incluem a espacialização dos códigos cadastrados pelas pessoas e a comparação com os códigos e as vias existentes e os riscos socioambientais. Os resultados indicam um percentual baixo de pessoas cadastradas, sobretudo em áreas de vulnerabilidade socioambiental. Ainda, 10% dos assentamentos informais possuem limitações na regularização de vias, implicando a inexistência de CEP. Logo, o processo da Defesa Civil de emissão de alertas baseado no código postal não atinge de forma efetiva as áreas de vulnerabilidade socioambiental, potencializando os riscos dos vulneráveis.