Effects of social and environmental inequalities on the wellbeing of a slum community : the case of Vila dos Pescadores in Southeast Brazil

Abstract

This thesis applies a conceptual framework of wellbeing to analyse the factors that affect the wellbeing of fishers and other community members in the slum community of Vila dos Pescadores in the city of Cubatão, São Paulo state, Southeast Brazil. Two key factors identified are power and inequality. I argue that the social inequalities inherent in Brazilian society affect how fishers and community members can achieve wellbeing, especially in coping with environmental challenges. The analysis of fishers’ and community members’ wellbeing is important at the policy level to encourage interventions such as the involvement of fishers in conservation initiatives in the Vila dos Pescadores community. A wellbeing analysis may also provide motivation to convince policymakers to assist oppressed groups in society, such as slum-dwellers living in environmentally degraded areas.