Juan Declet-Barreto
I am a Geographer and Environmental Social Scientist focused on understanding, and finding solutions to, human vulnerability to climate change. After completing a Climate and Health Research Fellowship at the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, DC, I joined the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) as a Kendall Environmental Justice & Science Fellow, where I explored the environmental justice implications of carbon reduction policies in the power sector in the United States. I now currently serve as Climate Scientist at UCS, where I am researching adverse human health impacts under future climate change scenarios.
My research is interdisciplinary, spanning the theories and methods of urban and hazards geography, environmental history, urban climatology, epidemiology, sociology, environmental justice, and GIS/Remote Sensing. I have developed a research program centered generally on understanding urban vulnerability to climate change, and specifically on the threats to human health and livelihood posed by extreme heat, an important consequence of climate change in metro Phoenix, Arizona.
In the past, I have worked in the regulatory environmental sector in ambient air quality assessments using GIS analysis and mapping of vehicular, agricultural, and industrial emissions, and also conducting dispersion modeling of air emissions. In this role, I have contributed to creating science-based recommendations for air quality improvement of areas in non-compliance with the Clean Air Act in urban and rural areas in Arizona.
I have also researched and published on the geography of industrial hazards vulnerability in the Arizona-Sonora border region between the US and México, and conducted fine geographical scale vulnerability assessments in support of climate adaptation plans in cities across the U.S.
Supervisors: Sharon Harlan, Chris Boone, Bob Bolin, and Paul Hirt
Phone: 202.331.6951
Address: Union of Concerned Scientists
1825 K St NW #800, Washington, DC 20006
My research is interdisciplinary, spanning the theories and methods of urban and hazards geography, environmental history, urban climatology, epidemiology, sociology, environmental justice, and GIS/Remote Sensing. I have developed a research program centered generally on understanding urban vulnerability to climate change, and specifically on the threats to human health and livelihood posed by extreme heat, an important consequence of climate change in metro Phoenix, Arizona.
In the past, I have worked in the regulatory environmental sector in ambient air quality assessments using GIS analysis and mapping of vehicular, agricultural, and industrial emissions, and also conducting dispersion modeling of air emissions. In this role, I have contributed to creating science-based recommendations for air quality improvement of areas in non-compliance with the Clean Air Act in urban and rural areas in Arizona.
I have also researched and published on the geography of industrial hazards vulnerability in the Arizona-Sonora border region between the US and México, and conducted fine geographical scale vulnerability assessments in support of climate adaptation plans in cities across the U.S.
Supervisors: Sharon Harlan, Chris Boone, Bob Bolin, and Paul Hirt
Phone: 202.331.6951
Address: Union of Concerned Scientists
1825 K St NW #800, Washington, DC 20006
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Theses by Juan Declet-Barreto
Peer-Reviewed Publications by Juan Declet-Barreto
Objectives: We estimated neighborhood effects of population characteristics and the built and natural environments on deaths due to heat exposure in Maricopa County, Arizona (2000-2008).
Methods: We used U.S. Census data and remotely sensed vegetation and land surface temperature to construct indicators of neighborhood vulnerability and a Geographic Information System to map vulnerability and residential addresses of people who died from heat exposure in 2,081 census block groups. Binary logistic regression and spatial analysis were used to associate deaths with neighborhoods.
Results: Neighborhood scores on three factors – Socioeconomic Vulnerability, Elderly/Isolation, and Unvegetated Area – varied widely throughout the study area. The preferred model (based on fit and parsimony) for predicting the odds of one or more deaths from heat exposure within a census block group included the first two factors and surface temperature in residential neighborhoods, holding constant population size. Spatial analysis identified clusters of neighborhoods with the highest heat vulnerability scores. A large proportion of deaths occurred among people, including homeless persons, who lived in the inner cores of the largest cities and an industrial corridor.
Conclusions: Place-based indicators of vulnerability complement analyses of person-level heat risk factors. Surface temperature might be used in Maricopa County to identify the most heat-vulnerable neighborhoods but more attention to the socio-ecological complexities of climate adaptation is needed.
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in Nogales, Sonora and Nogales, Arizona, two of the U.S.-Mexico border communities most impacted by trade after the implementation of the agreement in 1994. Ambos Nogales (Both Nogales) is a major hub within the cross-border transportation corridor connecting northwestern Mexico with the United States and Canada and both cities are subject to intense trade-related traffic, including the movement of hazardous materials and toxic waste generated by export-oriented industries in Mexico. As a first step in this analysis, we classify and map residential areas in Ambos Nogales applying an index of socio-environmental vulnerability. We then define the boundaries of existing hazard zones and their overlay with these areas in both cities. Finally, we contrast residential areas within the hazard zones with those outside to probe for patterns of social inequity both locally and across the border.
Poster Presentations by Juan Declet-Barreto
Professional Service by Juan Declet-Barreto
Conference Presentations by Juan Declet-Barreto
Funded Research by Juan Declet-Barreto