PANAMA – The cities of Latin America and the Caribbean consume twice the resources that guarantee sustainability and that excess is on the way to quadrupling, degenerating vital ecosystems, warned a report from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) released this Monday 13.
Jacqueline Álvarez, UNEP regional director, said that “many of the inhabitants of Latin America and the Caribbean today suffer the effects of the unsustainable use of resources: environmental degradation, lack of access to services and, as a result, a bleak future.”
Already in 2015, the most recent year with the highest volume of regional data, Latin American and Caribbean cities consumed annually between 12.5 and 14.4 tons per capita of resources.
The highest figures come from the Southern Cone (19.2 MT per inhabitant), with Brazil consuming 38.1% of the regional total; Mesoamerica, with 10.4 MT (Mexico consumes 21.5% of the inventory), the Andean area, with 10.2 MT, and the Caribbean with 7.4 MT per capita.
It is projected that in 2050, with a regional population of 680 million people, the consumption of urban household materials could rise to 25 tons per capita, well above the range of six to eight tons per capita that is considered sustainable.
According to the report, in the last 40 years the region’s built space grew 99%, almost at the same rate as the increase in the urban population in that period (95%). Due to the inability of most cities to absorb growth, social inequity and environmental injustice were exacerbated.
According to the International Resource Panel (IRP), which carried out the study together with UNEP, cities in the world generate up to three-quarters of the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.
The study calls for stopping the horizontal expansion of cities, increasing population density, and creating urban centers connected by efficient and affordable public transport.
In addition, the region requires more sustainable buildings, promoting circularity, taking advantage of organic waste, and water management that includes the treatment and reuse of water.
Closing the inequality gap will imply solving the precariousness faced by the most vulnerable populations, for example, the remoteness of urban services, deficient infrastructure, conditions of violence and pollution.
Chile, Mexico and Brazil are the most unequal countries in the region, according to the study.
If the appropriate measures are implemented, the cities of the region could reduce their annual material consumption to between six and seven tons per capita by 2050, efficiency could decrease the demand for virgin materials between 15 and 25%, and reduce gas emissions of the industrial sector up to 30%.
Recommendations include implementing adequate zoning measures and degrees of densification: approximately 150 people per hectare in urban centers, and between 75 and 100 people per hectare in adjacent areas.
Also, create neighborhoods on a human scale, and inclusive, integrating population with diverse socioeconomic levels, demographic origins, lifestyles or cultural practices, and with mixed uses of the land, accessible and well connected on the basis of integrated and efficient public transport systems. massive.
Examples highlighted in the report are the improvements to public transportation in Fortaleza (Brazil), which included more space for bicycles and pedestrians, the “harvest” of rainwater in Mexico City, and the district heating project in Temuco (Chile).
“Planning a sustainable transformation is crucial if we aspire to live in a cleaner region, in harmony with nature and leaving no one behind. Now that a sustainable recovery from covid-19 is urgent, this report lights the way in the right direction, “concluded Álvarez.
AE/HM
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