Cartografias jurídicas e racismo ambiental

aproximações a partir de conflitos fundiários urbanos na cidade do Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

This paper examines the results of the research Legal Cartographies: Mapping Urban Land Conflicts in the City of Rio de Janeiro, in the light of the concept of Environmental Racism. By considering the climate emergency as a lens for analyzing land conflicts, the article points to the role of the State and the market in constructing an environmental discourse as a tool for potential forced removal. We develop the hypothesis that the concept of Environmental Racism is crucial for deepening studies on urban land conflicts, enhancing the ongoing diagnosis in the Legal Cartographies research that the environmental arguments mobilized by agents promoting removal threats reinforce patterns of socio-territorial and racial segregation in the city. This conceptual tool challenges the use of environmental justifications as mere technical-legal applications of environmental and urban regulations, bringing to light the socioeconomic, racial, and political dimensions of the territorial dispute. We further emphasize the need to incorporate the perspectives of marginalized populations in the formulation of public policies, whether housing or environmental, as these are the groups experiencing the most intense forms of socio-environmental violence and offering more accurate diagnoses and effective solutions to the multiple crises they face.