the challenge to revert unsustainable trends uneven development and water degradation in the rio de janeiro metropolitan area挑战回复不可持续的发展不平衡和水资源退化趋势在里约热内卢市区.pdf

Sustainability 2009, 1, 133-160; doi:10.3390/su1020133 OPEN ACCESS sustainability ISSN 2071-1050 /journal/sustainability Article The Challenge to Revert Unsustainable Trends: Uneven Development and Water Degradation in the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Area Antonio A. R. Ioris 1,* and Maria A. M. Costa 2 1 Lecturer in Geography, School of Geosciences, and Research Fellow at the Aberdeen Centre for Environmental Sustainability (ACES), University of Aberdeen. Postal address: Department of Geography, Elphinstone Road, Aberdeen, UK, AB24 3UF 2 Doctoral Student, Urban and Regional Planning Research Institute (IPPUR), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Postal address: IPPUR, Prédio da Reitoria, sala 543, Cidade Universitária - llha do Fundão - Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Brazil, 21941-590; E-Mail: gelecolabore@.br * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: a.ioris@abdn.ac.uk; Tel.: +44-1224-273703; Fax: +44-1224-272331 Received: 20 January 2009 / Accepted : 30 March 2009 / Published: 14 April 2009 Abstract: The search for water sustainability requires not only a combination of technical and managerial responses, but also firm action against socioeconomic injustices and political inequalities. The recognition of the politicised nature of water problems deserves particular attention in areas marred by long-term trends of environmental degradation and social exclusion. A case study of the Baixada Fluminense, an urbanised wetland in the Metropolitan Area of Rio de Janeiro, illustrates th