THE PRODUCTION STATUS OF INDICATORS ON
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY IN BRAZIL
Nunes, Eduardo Pereira (eduardo.nunes@ibge.gov.br), Fortes, Luiz Paulo Souto
(luiz.fortes@ibge.gov.br), Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE)
ABSTRACT
This paper presents the production status of the Millennium Development Goal 7 indicators in
Brazil by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics - IBGE and other institutions. For
those indicators produced in Brazil, the procedures carried out to accomplish this task are
described. Since 2002 IBGE publishes the Sustainable Development Indicators, which report
totally or partially the MDG 7 indicators. Data are totally produced by IBGE for some of the
MDG 7 indicators, whereas other Brazilian institutions support the production of other MDG
7 indicators. The role of the National Statistics Office (e.g., IBGE) in the production of the
MDG 7 indicators, either as a producer or as a basic data provider, is also discussed
Key words: indicators, environmental sustainability, sustainable development, Millennium
Development Goal 7.
1. INTRODUCTION
IBGE the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistic has been producing systematically,
since 2002, a publication with a set of Sustainable Development Indicators – SDI in Brazil
and collaborates with other Brazilian government agencies for reporting the Millennium
Development Goals – MDG. There is some similarity between the set of indicators published
by IBGE and those used in monitoring the MDG.
The aim of this paper is to present work of IBGE both as a producer of official statistics, as
the organizer of other information related to MDG 7 - Ensure Environmental Sustainability,
produced by several actors. It also shows the similarities and differences between the sets of
indicators used in the two initiatives, comparing them with the international recommendations
for indicators to monitor the implementation of MDG 7 and discuss the role that an official
statistic can meet to monitor the pattern of sustainable development of a society or territory
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2. The Sustainable Development Indicators followed by IBGE
The first publication by IBGE in 2002 of the Sustainable Development Indicators can be
regarded as a starting point. It launched a wide discussion, the pioneer elaboration project of
Indicators of Sustainability for Brazil, provoking the exchange of ideas, reaching a special
level of communication with the general public.
The 2004, 2008 and 2010 editions, maintain the same general objective of the first edition – to
offer an information system for the following up of the pattern of sustainable development of
Brazil. The main objective, the referential, and the historical entailment of the project remain
equal; though it does present modifications as regards the improvement of the printed content,
especially regarding its structure and the addition or substitution of a group of new indicators.
Sustainable development is a transformation process in which the exploration of resources,
the direction of investments, the orientation regarding technological development, and the
institutional change harmonize itself and reinforce the present and future potential, in order to
attend to the future needs and aspirations…is the one which attends to the needs of the present
time without compromising the possibilities of future generations attending to their own
needs.
One of the challenges to produce sustainable development is to create measuring tools, such
as indicators of development. Indicators are tools composed by one or more variables that
linked through various ways reveal wider meanings about the phenomena to which they are
referring. Sustainable development indicators are essential tools for guiding the initiatives,
and subsidizing the following up and the progress evaluation towards sustainable
development.
The indicators followed by IBGE fulfill many functions, and also report to short, medium, and
long-term phenomena. The indicators enable the access to already available information about
relevant themes regarding development, as well as point out the need for the generation of
new information. They serve for identifying patterns, variations, behaviors, processes and
trends; establishing comparisons between countries and among regions within Brazil;
indicating the needs and priorities for the formulation, monitoring, and evaluation of policies;
and finally, due to the indicators’ ability to synthesize, they facilitate the understanding of the
public interested in the theme.
The work to generate Sustainable Development Indicators in Brazil is inspired in the
international movement headed by the United Nations’ Commission on Sustainable
Development – CSD, which brought together throughout the past decade, national
governments, academic institutions, non-governmental organizations, organizations of the
United Nations system, and worldwide specialists. The movement, initiated in 1992, set off a
work program composed by various studies and information interchange, to accomplish
chapters 8 and 40 of Agenda 21, which regard the relationship between the environment,
sustainable development, and information for decision-making. In 1996, the CSD published
the document “Indicators of sustainable development: framework and methodologies”,
known as the “Blue Book”. That document presented a group of 134 indicators - subsequently
reduced to a list of 57 – published in the year 2000, accompanied by methodological
information sheets and guidelines for its utilization. The IBGE’s project follows as reference
the “Blue Book” and the additional recommendations that existed before it, adapting its
contents and particularities to the Brazilian context. Regarding Brazil, besides the challenge
of generating indicators capable of characterizing and subsidizing the sustainable
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development process - in a national level, it can also be added the requirements
to communicate the various dimensions of the distinguishable Brazilian
diversity.
The group of selected indicators represents a sample of the IBGE’s available information and
the data from other institutions, which possess a solid statistical base, and which the data
gathering is intended for subsidizing the debate about development, and about the sustainable
characteristics of our country. Far from trying to exhaust the subject, the project wishes to
stimulate the urgency of new demands, the identification of new partners in generating
information, and considering new approaches that would subsidize the achievement of a
sustainable development.
IBGE possesses numerous statistical information, which would allow the creation of many
relevant indicators and would amplify the possibilities of evaluating the sustainable
development, especially as regards economic and social issues. However, the guiding
conception of the project is to limit the number of indicators to a group capable of
communicating the different aspects of the sustainability approach in the most concise manner
possible.
The presentation of the indicators follows the organizer framework proposed by the United
Nations’ Commission on Sustainable Development – CSD in 2001, which divided the
indicators into four dimensions: Environmental, Social, Economic and Institutional. There are
55 indicators in the 2010 SDI edition, the complete list of the indicators followed by IBGE is
presented in the Annex I at the end of this paper.
3. The Millennium Development Goals Report in Brazil
In April 2010 Brazil has launched the fourth Millennium Development Goal Report, in
partnership with the United Nations Agencies acting in the country. This report was prepared
with the collaboration of 20 ministries under supervision of the Presidency of the Republic of
Brazil, Civil House (Executive Office) and coordination of The Institute for Applied
Economic Research (Ipea), The General Secretary of the Presidency of the Republic and the
Planning Ministry.
The IBGE is a participant of the working group that made the MDG reports, and has an
important role, to guarantee the rigorous use of the official statistics in the indicators
production. Furthermore the IBGE also provides a range of basic information for the MDG
indicators construction through its regular surveys both, the household and economic surveys.
In the eight MDG the Brazilian report is not limited to provide the international recommended
indicators, there is a process adequate the indicators to the internal reality and priorities.
Specifically about the MDG 7 - Ensure Environmental Sustainability, the Brazilian report
provide 26 indicators, more than the 10 indicators internationally recommended, shown in the
Table 1 at the end of this paper.
4. Comparing The Millennium Development Indicators internationally recommended,
the MDG Brazilian Report and the Sustainable Development Indicators followed by
IBGE
The Table 1 shows in a single framework, the targets of MDG 7 and the respective
international recommended indicators, the Brazilian MDG Report indicators and a part of the
Sustainable Development Indicators followed by IBGE.
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While in the international recommendation there are 10 indicators, the Brazilian
Report presents 26 indicators and IBGE follows 30 indicators related with the
MDG targets.
It happens because it was necessary to adequate the indicators to the national reality and the
national data availability. In the particular case of IBGE, the initiative to produce SDI started
before the first national MDG Report. As previously commented, the first SDI was published
in 2002 but the prepare started two years before, in 2000 and this works followed a distinct
inspiration, the efforts of the international community to produce a comprehensive set of
indicators to assess the Agenda 21 implementation.
Despite those differences, there is a close proximity, at least thematic, between the set of
indicators followed by IBGE and those used in monitoring the MDG.
It is noteworthy the fact that there are no indicators related to efficiency in consuming energy.
and the use of renewable energy in the international recommendations, and in both, the
national report of MDG and the SDI followed by IBGE there are several indicators on this
subject. This demonstrates the high importance that the energy sector has to the country
development and, more than that, the fact that the Brazilian energy matrix is extremely clean,
both with regard to pressure on non-renewable resources consuption, such as the point of view
of greenhouse gases emissions.
5. Conclusions
As shown previously, Brazil regularly publishes its progress report of the Millennium
Development Goals since 2004. Before that, since 2002, with editions in 2004, 2008 and
2010, IBGE publishes Sustainable Development Indicators in Brazil. The initiatives have
different motivations and follow different conceptual models, but rather resembled at least in
thematic terms, with coincidence of many indicators particularly in relation to environmental
sustainability.
Although similar, the two works have different roles. The MDG report has close links with
government actions for achieving the internationally agreed targets while the SDI seek to
provide a long-term vision of the country's general situation in relation to their stage of
sustainable development.
In the particular case of the IBGE, the publication of SDI provides its own production in an
organized way to fulfill this function and also organizes a large amount of information that,
otherwise, would be scattered in various institutions. Thus, it facilitates the access to this type
of data to decision makers and the public in general, especially in environmental issues, an
area of knowledge that is not covered with a special and systematic report on Brazil.
There are still some information gaps in both the MDG report as in SDI. The most notable
refers to the availability and use of water. However, the IBGE is implementing a project to
elaborate the economic environmental accounts, just starting by water accounting, aiming to
bring together the various producers of water data, adopting a common framework as
recommended by United Nations Statistic Division, aiming to cover this information lack.
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Table 1 - Millennium Development Goal 7 Targets and Indicators: International
Recommendations, Indicators Reported from Brazil 2010 and Related Sustainable Development Indicators
followed by IBGE
Millennium Development Goal Millennium Development Goal
Sustainable Development
7: Ensure environmental
7: Ensure environmental
Indicators from Brazil
sustainability
sustainability
Indicators reported from
Indicators followed by IBGE
International Recommendation
Brazil 2010
Target 7a: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes;
reverse loss of environmental resources
- Intensity in energy use in the
- Energy consumption per capita
agricultural, manufactory,
- Energy intensity
transportation and service sectors - Participation of renewable
in 1995 and 2003.
sources in energy supply
- Mineral consumption per capita
- Usable life of mineral reserves
- Recycling
- Solid waste selective collection
- Radioactive wastes: generation
and storage
- Use of fertilizers
- Use of pesticides
Target 7b: Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss
7.1 Proportion of land area
- Original area and remaining
- Deforestation of Brazilian
covered by forest
area of “Mata Atlântica” (coastal Amazon
rain forest) in 1990 and 1995
- Deforestation and remnant area
- Average rate of deforestation in of Mata Atlântica (Brazilian
the Amazon in 1977-1988 and
Atlantic Forest) and of coastal
1988-2004
vegetation (restingas and
mangroves)
- Deforestation of Cerrado
(Brazilian Savanna)
- Lands for agrosilvipastoral use
- Forest fires and burnings
7.2 CO2 emissions, total, per
- CO2 emissions per dollar of
- Total of greenhouse gases
capita and per $1 GDP (PPP)
GDP in 2002
emissions (including CO2)
- CO2 emissions from domestic
- Concentration of air pollutants
energy supply in 2002
in urban areas
- CO2, methane, nitrous oxide,
nitrogen oxides and carbon
monoxide emissions, 1990 and
1994
7.3 Consumption of ozone- CFC, PCA, methyl bromide,
- Industrial consumption of
depleting substances
halons, CTC, HCFC
ozone-depleting substances
consumption, 1992 and 2003
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Millennium Development Goal
7: Ensure environmental
sustainability
Millennium Development Goal
7: Ensure environmental
sustainability
Indicators reported from
International Recommendation
Brazil 2010
7.4 Proportion of fish stocks
within safe biological limits
7.5 Proportion of total water
resources used
7.6 Proportion of terrestrial and
marine areas protected
7.7 Proportion of species
threatened with extinction
Sustainable Development
Indicators from Brazil
Indicators followed by IBGE
- Marine and continental fish
production
- Overview of state of the main
Brazilian rivers on the water
balance (the ratio demand / water
availability
- Percentage distribution of the
extent of the main rivers of the
country with respect to balance
demand / water availability Brazil, 2009
- Number and total area of
federal conservation units, 20022005
- Distribution of the total area of
federal conservation units on
management categories, 2005
- Number, types and areas of
municipal conservation units in
2002
- Indigenous population in Brazil
- Total number of indigenous
lands, Brazil, 2005
- Total number of indigenous
land and area of indigenous lands
with legal situation defined,
Brazil
- Legal instrument and number of
threatened species
- Percentage of threatened
species of fauna and flora under
management by group
- Surface water quality
- Bathing water quality
- Number area and proportion of
federal terrestrial protected areas
and total of federal marine
protected areas
- Indigenous lands and
population
- Population in coastal areas
- Number of extinct species or
threatened species by biome and
taxonomic groups.
- Wildlife traffic, breeding and
trade of wild animals
- Invading species
Target 7c: Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and
basic sanitation
7.8 Proportion of population
- Percentage of residents in - Access to water supply system
using an improved drinking
permanent households with water
water source
supply appropriate in urban and
rural areas
7.9 Proportion of population
- Percentage of residents in
- Access to sewage collecting
using an improved sanitation
permanent households in urban
system - Sewage treatmentfacility
areas with simultaneous access to Access to domestic solid waste
water piped domestic network
collection service- Final disposal
and general sewage network or
of solid waste- Diseases related
septic tank
to inadequate environmental
sanitation
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Millennium Development Goal
7: Ensure environmental
sustainability
Millennium Development Goal
7: Ensure environmental
sustainability
Indicators reported from
International Recommendation
Brazil 2010
Sustainable Development
Indicators from Brazil
Indicators followed by IBGE
Target 7d: Achieve significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, by 2020
7.10 Proportion of urban
- Households in subnormal
- Housing adjustment: proportion
population living in slums
enumeration areas of
of households with adequate
Demographic Census 2000, by
conditions of water access,
regions
sanitation, waste and sufficient
- Quantitative housing deficit by living space.
income level and household
situation
- Number of households in
informal settlements
- Number of slums, tenements
and irregular settlements
- Indicator of population
satisfaction with the living
conditions for large regions
- Percentage of households by
existence of problems at home
- Percentage of permanent
households in urban areas with
adequate housing conditions,
according large regions and color
/ race of the household chiefs
References
Indicadores de Desenvolvimento Sustentável: Brasil 2008. Rio de Janeiro: IBGE, 2008.
Objetivos de Desenvolvimento do Milênio – Relatório Nacional de Acompanhamento.
Brasília: Ipea, 2010.
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Annex I - Complete list of Sustainable development Indicators followed by IBGE in
2002, 2004, 2008 or 2010
Environmental Dimension
Atmosphere
Emissions of greenhouse effect gases
Industrial consumption of ozone-depleting substances
Concentration of air pollutants in urban areas
Land
Use of fertilizers
Use of pesticides
Lands for agrosilvipastoral use
Forest fires and burnings
Deforestation of Brazilian Amazon
Deforestation and remnant area of Mata Atlântica (Brazilian Atlantic Forest) and of coastal
vegetation (restingas and mangroves)
Deforestation of Brazilian Cerrado (Brazilian Savanna)
Desertification and sandization
Fresh water
Surface water quality
Oceans, seas and coastal areas
Bathing water quality
Marine and continental fish production
Population in coastal areas
Biodiversity
Extinct and threatened species
Protected areas
Wildlife traffic, breeding and trade of wild animals
Invading species
Sanitation
Access to domestic solid waste collection service
Final disposal of solid waste
Access to water supply system
Access to sewage collecting system
Sewage treatment
Social Dimension
Population
Population growth rate
Indigenous lands and population
Work and income
Gini Index of income distribution
Unemployment rate
Family income per capita
Monthly average income
Health
Life expectancy at birth
Infant mortality rate
Total malnutrition prevalence
Immunization against infectious childhood diseases
Rate of use of contraceptive methods
Supply of basic health services
Diseases related to inadequate environmental sanitation
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Education
Schooling rate
Literacy rate
Education level
Housing
Housing adjustment
Safety
The coefficient of mortality per homicides
The coefficient of mortality per transportation accidents
Economic dimension
Economic framework
Gross domestic product per capita
Investment rate
Trade Balance
Degree of indebtedness
Patterns of production and consumption
Energy consumption per capita
Energy intensity
Participation of renewable sources in energy supply
Mineral consumption per capita
Usable life of mineral reserves
Recycling
Solid waste selective collection
Radioactive wastes: generation and storage
Institutional dimension
Institutional framework
Ratification of global agreements
Existence of Municipal Councils
Institutional capacity
Resources spent with research and development
Government resources spent with environmental protection
Access to telephone services
Access to the Internet
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