Based on detailed research funded across two continents and involving universities in Argentina, Spain and the UK, this book sets out an innovative, multidisciplinary approach to assessing both environmental and social risks in a given territorial area.

Foreword.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Evaluating the Firm’s Environmental Risk: A Conceptual Framework.- 3. Statistical Information For the Analysis of Social Vulnerability in Latin America - Comparison With Spain.- 4. Evaluating the Firm’s Environmental Hazard: Methodology.- 5. The Case of Bolivia.- 6. The Case Of Argentina.- 7. The Case Of Spain.- 8. Concluding Remarks.- Index.

Based on detailed research funded across two continents and involving universities in Argentina, Spain and the UK, this book sets out an innovative, multidisciplinary approach to assessing both environmental and social risks in a given territorial area. Using data from a number of Ibero-American nations, the study combines environmental, socio-economic and geographic factors to construct a set of spatial and technical indicators that measure the social vulnerability and industrial hazardousness of a defined area. Aggregating these indicators in a geographic information system (GIS) allows researchers to assess the potential risk to which a certain area and its population are subject as a result of the environmental deterioration caused by co-located industrial activity. The authors perform this assessment at two levels: a regional one that identifies average risk over large administrative areas such as provinces, and at a more detailed scale they name the ‘census unit’, to determine the distribution in the locality of risk-laden and contaminating industries. The methodology applied allows for greater accuracy and detail in identifying geographical variations in calculating the levels of risk within a single country. It also facilitates more productive comparisons different countries in Ibero-America.

Confronts a long-standing paucity of research into the vicious circle of poverty and environmental degradation Provides a conceptual framework for understanding the key challenges to sustainable growth in developing and developed countries Confronts the limitations of Kuznet’s developmental model Multi-disciplinary and holistic approach to assessing the interdependencies between environmental threats, industrial activity, risk, poverty and vulnerability facilitates development of workable solutions Stress-tested methodology deploys adapted approaches for different data-sets, scenarios and circumstances, thus allowing for limitations in official data Includes detailed maps and color figures allowing for comparative analysis

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