Crescimento urbano e seus impactos no sistema de drenagem de uma bacia em Natal/RN

The uncontrolled growth of most Brazilian cities is not accompanied by the development of urban infrastructure. With increasing soil sealing, runoff and decreased infiltration volume, impacts on water resources and on population of the areas affected by urban growth are inevitable. This study aims to evaluate the use and occupation of a watershed and analyze the drainage system in order to control the impact using tools to integrate urban development with the drainage of rainwater in an important watershed in the Natal City, Rio Grande do Norte State. The study involved the characterization of the basin XII.4 on the land use and occupation, for the years 2005 and 2014. With the application of SWMM model was possible to analyze the impacts caused by the urbanization process in the existing drainage system, showing the two years analyzed have their areas very close to percentage saturation of impervious areas. Although the region is still predominantly single family residential, suffers increasing verticalization of mainly commercial buildings. The drainage system is inefficient for the area's needs by the year 2005. The drainage system was also tested for four variations of land use by developing scenarios. Scenario 1 is related to the year 2014, considered current. Scenario 2 was adopted the maximum rate of 80% for land use, allowed for the Natal City. Scenario 3 gives the critical condition of land use, with the area 100% impervious. Scenario 4 is applied to the existence of LID (Low Impact Device). The scenarios analysis showed that all indicate deficiency at some point of the drainage system as a result of the high degree of occupation of the area that generate higher flows than the initial drainage system capacity. With the study it became clear that the adoption of non-structural tools are effective in reducing flooding and improving the drainage system capacity.

Crescimento urbano e seus impactos no sistema de drenagem de uma bacia em Natal/RN

The uncontrolled growth of most Brazilian cities is not accompanied by the development of urban infrastructure. With increasing soil sealing, runoff and decreased infiltration volume, impacts on water resources and on population of the areas affected by urban growth are inevitable. This study aims to evaluate the use and occupation of a watershed and analyze the drainage system in order to control the impact using tools to integrate urban development with the drainage of rainwater in an important watershed in the Natal City, Rio Grande do Norte State. The study involved the characterization of the basin XII.4 on the land use and occupation, for the years 2005 and 2014. With the application of SWMM model was possible to analyze the impacts caused by the urbanization process in the existing drainage system, showing the two years analyzed have their areas very close to percentage saturation of impervious areas. Although the region is still predominantly single family residential, suffers increasing verticalization of mainly commercial buildings. The drainage system is inefficient for the area's needs by the year 2005. The drainage system was also tested for four variations of land use by developing scenarios. Scenario 1 is related to the year 2014, considered current. Scenario 2 was adopted the maximum rate of 80% for land use, allowed for the Natal City. Scenario 3 gives the critical condition of land use, with the area 100% impervious. Scenario 4 is applied to the existence of LID (Low Impact Device). The scenarios analysis showed that all indicate deficiency at some point of the drainage system as a result of the high degree of occupation of the area that generate higher flows than the initial drainage system capacity. With the study it became clear that the adoption of non-structural tools are effective in reducing flooding and improving the drainage system capacity.

Plano de desenvolvimento sustentável e articulação de políticas públicas: o controle de políticas ambientais pelo poder judiciário

The right to the preservation of a healthy environment is perceived as a Fundamental Right, inserted in the National Constitution and referring to present and future generations. The preservation of the environment is directly connected to the right to Health and Human Dignity and, therefore, must be treated as a personal right, unavailable, claiming for a positive response from the Brazilian State, through the development of related public policies, control of potentially harmful economic activities, with special focus on the principles of precaution and solidarity. The Brazilian judiciary must thus be attentive to the guardianship of the Fundamental Right. The judiciary control over the execution of public policies is based on obeying the principle of the separation, independence and harmony between the Powers, however it should never deviate from the constitutional obligation of caring for the effectivation of the rights and guarantees within the Magna Carta. In the balance between the principle of human dignity, from which springs the right to a healthy environment and the principle of separation of powers, the former should prevail, maintaining the latter to a core minimum.

Comunidades tradicionais em áreas protegidas: convergências e lacunas da Política Urbana e Ambiental na Reserva de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Estadual Ponta do Tubarão/RN

This work presents a reflection on possibilities and boundaries of consolidation and expansion of human settlements characterized as traditional communities that are located within protected areas, using as study reference the State Sustainable Development Reserve Ponta do Tubarão, at Rio Grande do Norte state. The main topics highlight the conflict between the right to housing and the prevalence of fundamental rights of traditional populations, opposed to the diffuse right to environment, according to the regulatory framework of the Brazilian Urban and Environmental Policies. At the same time that these settlements, historically built, are substantiated by the principles of recognition of rights to traditional populations, they are in a condition of complexity to the resolution of conflicts in its urban dimension and lead to an impairment of natural sites. This work questions how the instruments of land use and occupation are defined and relate to environmental planning, especially considering that the settlements are located in Permanent Preservation Areas (APP). It aims to further the discussion of the urban dimension in settlements, characterizing its formation and growth process, to identify the gaps and convergences between the Urban and Environmental Policy, under the foundations of a socio-environmental approach. The results spotlights the conflicts between occupation and natural areas, inferring that the definition of Urban Policies instruments and its integration with Environmental Policies instruments account for essential and priority actions to the achievement to the rights to a sustainable city, as determined in the Cities Statute and environmental protection goals, defined for the Conservation Units

Uma metodologia para a análise do desempenho sustentável dos postos de revenda de combustível na cidade de Natal/RN, com o uso de data envelopment analysis-DEA

The increasing use of fossil fuels in line with cities demographic explosion carries out to huge environmental impact in society. For mitigate these social impacts, regulatory requirements have positively influenced the environmental consciousness of society, as well as, the strategic behavior of businesses. Along with this environmental awareness, the regulatory organs have conquered and formulated new laws to control potentially polluting activities, mostly in the gas stations sector. Seeking for increasing market competitiveness, this sector needs to quickly respond to internal and external pressures, adapting to the new standards required in a strategic way to get the Green Badge . Gas stations have incorporated new strategies to attract and retain new customers whom present increasingly social demand. In the social dimension, these projects help the local economy by generating jobs and income distribution. In this survey, the present research aims to align the social, economic and environmental dimensions to set the sustainable performance indicators at Gas Stations sector in the city of Natal/RN. The Sustainable Balanced Scorecard (SBSC) framework was create with a set of indicators for mapping the production process of gas stations. This mapping aimed at identifying operational inefficiencies through multidimensional indicators. To carry out this research, was developed a system for evaluating the sustainability performance with application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) through a quantitative method approach to detect system s efficiency level. In order to understand the systemic complexity, sub organizational processes were analyzed by the technique Network Data Envelopment Analysis (NDEA) figuring their micro activities to identify and diagnose the real causes of overall inefficiency. The sample size comprised 33 Gas stations and the conceptual model included 15 indicators distributed in the three dimensions of sustainability: social, environmental and economic. These three dimensions were measured by means of classical models DEA-CCR input oriented. To unify performance score of individual dimensions, was designed a unique grouping index based upon two means: arithmetic and weighted. After this, another analysis was performed to measure the four perspectives of SBSC: learning and growth, internal processes, customers, and financial, unifying, by averaging the performance scores. NDEA results showed that no company was assessed with excellence in sustainability performance. Some NDEA higher efficiency Gas Stations proved to be inefficient under certain perspectives of SBSC. In the sequence, a comparative sustainable performance and assessment analyzes among the gas station was done, enabling entrepreneurs evaluate their performance in the market competitors. Diagnoses were also obtained to support the decision making of entrepreneurs in improving the management of organizational resources and promote guidelines the regulators. Finally, the average index of sustainable performance was 69.42%, representing the efforts of the environmental suitability of the Gas station. This results point out a significant awareness of this segment, but it still needs further action to enhance sustainability in the long term