Backyards Are a Way to Promote Environmental Justice and Biodiversity Conservation in Brazilian Cities

• Published in: Diversity (Basel) Vol. 15; no. 7; p. 815
• Main Authors: Lima, Gedeone Ferreira, Correa Santos, Jeater Waldemar Maciel, Albertin, Ricardo Massulo, Martínez-Miranzo, Beatriz, Souza, Franco L., Angeoletto, Fabio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-06-2023
• Subjects: Backyard gardens; backyards; Biodiversity; Biological diversity conservation; Birds; Brazilian cities; Cities; Cities and towns; Ecosystem services; Ecosystems; Endangered & extinct species; Environmental aspects; environmental injustice; Environmental justice; Environmental policy; Food supply; Inequality; Injustice; Low income groups; Methods; Middle class; Neighborhoods; Social aspects; Socioeconomics; urban biodiversity; urban ecological corridors; urban ecology; Urban populations; Vegetation; Wildlife conservation; Wildlife habitats; Brazil
• ISSN: 1424-2818; 1424-2818
• DOI: 10.3390/d15070815

Brazilian cities feature quite unequal neighborhoods. Middle-class neighborhoods have better infrastructure than those inhabited by low-income families. These inequalities are not limited to social and economic scopes; they also reach the environmental one. Tree cover in these neighborhoods is often correlated to residents’ socioeconomic status. Injustice in access to trees deprives Brazilians of their ecosystem services. Furthermore, the scarcity of tree cover in the poorest neighborhoods means less support for biodiversity. Thus, backyards can be planned to form vegetation patches capable of providing urban populations with access to green areas, as well as working as wildlife habitats.