PROPOSAL OF PROJECT

OVERVIEW AND COMPARISON OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE MAPPING AND SCREENING TOOLS

VIVIANA BRAVO

Around the world, communities are struggling to protect their land, air, water, forests from
damaging projects and activities with heavy environmental and social impacts (Kuruppuarachchi et al,
2017). Furthermore, climate change and historical legacies rise disproportionate impacts on human
communities (Herreros-Cantis et al, 2021). A Number of tools exist to identify and map those areas with
potential environmental justice concerns. CalEnviroScreen, EJSCREEN, EJ Atlas, Maryland EJSCREEN (MD
EJSCREEN) and New Jersey Environmental Justice Mapping Tool are some examples of resources to map
the cases of environmental justice in many parts of the world.

Screening tools like CalEnviroScreen and EJSCREEN developed by The California Environmental
Protection Agency (CalEPA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) respectively,
combine environmental and demographic data to identify vulnerable communities affected by
environmental issues (Faust et al, 2021). Additionally, the Environmental Justice Atlas is a systematic
information tool on ecological-distributive conflicts (Temper et al., 2015) in which stories of
communities fighting for environmental justice around the world are compiled.

The tools are expected to help in visualizing and understanding the distribution of cases of
environmental justice and other issues related to environmental conservation. Although these tools
allow to visualize cases of environmental justice, issues related to environmental conservation require
more sophisticated thinking than just pointing to places on a map. This project will present an overview
and comparison of the Environmental justice mapping and screening tools, the methodologies, data
management and results in each program and make a discussion about the advantages, disadvantages
and the additional indicators or improvements that these tools may incorporate to facilitate a better
characterization of cumulative environmental impacts on communities.

References:

Faust J, August L, Slocombe A, et al. 2021. California’s Environmental Justice Mapping Tool: Lessons and
Insights from Calenviroscreen. Environmental Law Reporter, [s. l.], v. 51, n. 8, p. 10684–10687.
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=edshol&AN=edshol.hein.journals.elrna51.95&site=eds-live.
Herreros-Cantis, P., and T. McPhearson. 2021. Mapping supply of and demand for ecosystem services to
assess environmental justice in New York City. Ecological Applications 31(6): e02390. 10.1002/eap. 2390
Kuruppuarachchi, Lakshika & Kumar, Ashok & Franchetti, Matthew. 2017. A Comparison of Major
Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tools. Environmental Management and Sustainable Development.
6. 59. 10.5296/emsd.v6i1.10914.
Temper, D. Bene & J. Martinez-Alier. 2015. Mapping the frontiers and front lines of global environmental
justice: the EJAtlas. J. Polit. Ecol., 22 (2015), pp. 256-278
OUTLINE

OVERVIEW AND COMPARISON OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE MAPPING AND SCREENING TOOLS

Introduction

- Brief introduction about environmental justice

- Mapping tools

EJ Mapping and screening tools – Overview / Insights

- CalEnviroScreen,
- EJSCREEN,
- EJ Atlas,
- Maryland EJSCREEN (MD EJSCREEN)
- New Jersey Environmental Justice Mapping Tool

Discussion

- Methodology
- Data management
- Indicators / improvements
- Results

Conclusion

Useful Resources:

- https://realityhub.climaterealityproject.org/ejcj-library
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
349418106_Environmental_Justice_and_Indigenous_Environmental_Justice?
_sg=jGZdMvr38xVCZUFpIfyoCOreD8As2xbpoS-ERhyv4BJVmsm3M1k-_FK0fv5qjdBQPWadE7PG2nCwJKA
- https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/149105
- https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/9/2/130
- https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/3/348
- https://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=08fc64a9-9c16-4423-bc7a-
106211e8efe5%40sessionmgr4008
- https://ejatlas.org/
- https://www.ria.ie/sites/default/files/the-geography-of-climate-justice.pdf
- https://nuso.org/articulo/una-experiencia-de-cartografi-colaborativa/
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
352533730_Empowering_Environmental_Justice_Decision_Makers_Increasing_Educational_Resources_fo
r_US_Environmental_Protection_Agency%27s_Mapping_Tools?_sg=Ix4Qvo8ayshxzrixwmKjURn0ZS-
M4znP7V1dnvg2oMocf9OCFqRF8_O9CDpxHkuGQfjQLq3ymM-1AXs