Browsing by Author "Henriquez Ruiz, Cristian"

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    From uncertainty to environmental impacts: reflection on the threats to water in Chacabuco Province (Chile): a combined approach in social sciences and geochemistry
    (SPRINGER JAPAN KK, 2022) Le Goff, Lucie; Blot, Frederique; Peltier, Anne; Laffont, Laure; Becerra, Sylvia; Henriquez Ruiz, Cristian; Quense Abarzua, Jorge; Philippe, Magali; Paegelow, Martin; Menjot, Ludovic; Delplace, Gauthier; Schreck, Eva
    This article discusses the uncertainty about water quality in the Province of Chacabuco (Santiago Metropolitan Region) in Chile, a region marked by very strong pressure on the resource, both natural (drought) and anthropogenic (urban growth, agricultural intensification, industrialisation, and mining activity). Our main objective was, through an interdisciplinary research approach, to understand how the uncertainty concerning the state of hydro systems becomes central in the social representations of the inhabitants, since there is no consensus amongst regional stakeholders about environmental impacts nor is there evidence of pollution. By cross-referencing geochemical data on water quality and the inhabitants' discourse on the resource, we identified those factors that create uncertainty about water resources: institutional lack of knowledge of the state of the resource, scientific difficulties in understanding the functioning of the hydro system, water and ground quality data that are difficult to interpret given the persistent drought, and the inhabitants' distrust of data producers, in a context of planned regulatory zoning of polluting activities in the area. We also show the negative effects that the lack of trustworthy information has on the daily lives of local communities living near industrial infrastructures: anxiety, health concerns, and mistrust of drinking water, even though it is potable.
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    Water vulnerabilities mapping: a multi-criteria and multi-scale assessment in central Chile
    (IWA PUBLISHING, 2021) Paegelow, Martin; Quense, Jorge; Peltier, Anne; Henriquez Ruiz, Cristian; Le Goff, Lucie; Arenas Vasquez, Federico; Antoine, Jean Marc; CEDEUS (Chile)
    One of the major challenges that populations have to face is vulnerability to water: lack of water, flooding, pollution, hazard sensitivity and coping capacity. For the reason of economic, social and environmental inequalities, this paper focuses on water-related vulnerabilities in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago (RMS) in Chile. Our main objective is to understand, through mapping, the multiscalar logics of water vulnerability. This study is carried out at two scales: at the regional level (RMS), we proceed with open access municipal statistical data and maps, while at the local level, a more detailed analysis focussing on the Chacabuco Province is based on the same type of data but with either a higher spatial resolution (Census districts) or a spatially more intensive data processing in order to take into account intra-municipal differences. In this way, we put into perspective the discourse developed in the Chilean media and by the inhabitants of Chacabuco Province regarding the province as an environmental 'sacrifice zone' for the RMS. The vulnerability maps are carried out at different scales in a simple and reproducible way by multi-criteria evaluation (MCE). The results confirm the hypothesis of a sacrifice zone and show that high-resolution data and adequate data processing give, on average, lower vulnerability scores than using only statistical data on the municipal level. The results provide a cartographic decision support for stakeholders. Limitations of the study are discussed and required further research pointed out.