Aportes y desafíos del Sistema de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental (SEIA) a la conservación de la biodiversidad en Chile

Environmental impact assessment systems are preventive management instruments whose main objective is to include environmental considerations in the processes and activities accompanying economic growth in a nation. The influence of these systems in the conservation of biodiversity is fundamental, since within the evaluation process, they enable identifying and evaluating potential environmental impacts, as well as defining reparations, compensations, or mitigations. Halting the loss of biodiversity caused by human activities and climate change is a global objective. Chile is also facing this challenge, considering its status of Biodiversity Hotspot, projections associated with climate change, and the outstanding issues that the Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA) shows regarding biodiversity conservation. The latest, based on the lack of strategic view when considering issues such as the territorial scope of the environmental impacts generated by the projects, under a systemic and transversal approach. This research analyses the main changes experienced since the creation of SEIA, and compares this system with other evaluation systems used in Latin America. National statistics on investment projects potentially affecting the conservation of biodiversity are given. Two issues are addressed to guide discussion of the operational changes that should be encouraged by the Chilean government, namely: 1) internalising the importance of protecting biodiversity beyond current regulations, and; 2) introducing improvements in environmental legislation that could indirectly lead to improvements in SEIA. The research concludes on the importance of strengthening the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and its integration with the SEIA, in order to encourage better project designs by including sustainability from the beginning

Assessing local governments’ perception of the potential implementation of biophilic urbanism in Chile : a latent class approach

Biophilic urbanism seeks to integrate nature into the planning and design of urban spaces to pursue two main goals: making cities greener and improving the health and well-being of its inhabitants. Based on ordinal data gathered through a national survey, this paper analyses the perceptions of local governments on the potential implementation of this approach in Chile. Using Latent Class Analysis (LCA), heterogeneous groups of responses are identified as 'Latent Classes.' We implement two LCAs, one assessing the importance of the criteria driving biophilic urbanism and one evaluating the perceived barriers inhibiting this approach. We also examine local governments' perceptions regarding the most and the least feasible Biophilic Urbanism Initiatives (BUIs) by considering a set of driving criteria as a base scenario. The first LCA reveals two groups of respondents in which both the current administration and financial resources are perceived to be driving biophilic urbanism. The second LCA reveals three groups of respondents: two groups perceiving the barriers as neutral and barely inhibiting the approach, respectively; and a third group pointing to the lack of economic resources and the lack of support from national and regional governments. Despite the differences in the perception of the criteria driving and the barriers inhibiting biophilic urbanism, the latent classes suggest the most and the least viable initiatives for implementation to be similar. Results are discussed in the context of the wider literature on biophilic urbanism

Mitigating urban heating in dryland cities : a literature review

This review analyzes literature regarding urban heating and urban heat islands (UHIs) in dryland cities. This topic is of widespread importance in the era of climate change since many global cities are in arid, semiarid, or Mediterranean regions. We first analyze the literature on dryland UHIs, finding major differences with those for temperate cities. We then review research on cooling strategies involving vegetation, built form, and materials. Finally, we consider planning dimensions. Overall, we find that the most sustainable cooling approach for dryland cities is likely to combine low-water tree species with dense, shade-producing built form and high-albedo materials