Assessing multidimensional sustainability: Lessons from Brazil’s social protection programs

Abstract

Examining linkages among multiple sustainable development outcomes is key for understanding sustainability transitions. Yet rigorous evidence on social and environmental outcomes of sustainable development policies remains scarce. We conduct a national-level analysis of Brazil’s flagship social protection program, Zero Hunger (ZH), which aims to reduce food insecurity and poverty. Using data from rural municipalities across Brazil and quasi-experimental causal inference techniques, we assess relationships between social protection investment and outcomes related to sustainable development goals (SDGs): "no poverty" (SDG 1), "zero hunger" (SDG 2), and "health and well being" (SDG 3). We also assess potential perverse outcomes arising from agricultural development impacting "climate action" (SDG 13) and "life on land" (SDG 15) via clearance of natural vegetation. Despite increasing daily per capita protein and kilocalorie production, summed ZH investment did not alleviate child malnutrition or infant mortality and negligibly influenced multidimensional poverty. Higher investment increased natural vegetation cover in some biomes but increased losses in the Cerrado and especially the Pampa. Effects varied substantially across subprograms. Conditional cash transfer (Bolsa Familia [BF]) was mainly associated with nonbeneficial impacts but increased protein production and improved educational participation in some states. The National Program to Strengthen Family Farming (PRONAF) was typically associated with increased food production (protein and calories), multidimensional poverty alleviation, and changes in natural vegetation. Our results inform policy development by highlighting successful elements of Brazil’s ZH program, variable outcomes across divergent food security dimensions, and synergies and trade-offs between sustainable development goals, including environmental protection.

Lower Expression of miR-26a in PBMCs Indicates the Occurrence of Early-Onset Neonatal Sepsis and Is Partly Mediated by the Upregulation of PTEN

“…Infant and late fetal mortality is often used to assess the national and social protection levels ( 15 ). If miR-26a predicts septic death, it may help doctors to take steps in a timely manner, saving lives.…”

Characterization and distribution of pesticide use from 2015 to 2019, by health regions in the state of Rondônia (RO), Amazon, Brazil

“…Since 1995, the National Program for Strengthening Family Agriculture (Programa Nacional de Fortalecimento da Agricultura Familiar -PRONAF) has been implemented, an agricultural public policy fundamental to this type of agriculture, which provides differentiated financing conditions (Bühler et al, 2016;Dyngeland et al, 2020), providing the farmer with the opportunity to expand production and/or increase productivity. On the other hand, the resources arising from this financing are largely used in the purchase of pesticides (Grisa, 2012;Bühler et al, 2016).…”

Climate Resilience and Social Assistance in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings

“…Some studies find that social assistance may create incentives to stay and invest in locations and livelihoods that may become unviable in the future under increased climate risks, when the long-term impacts of climate change are not considered in design and planning phases (Kuriakose et al 2013;Béné et al 2014;FAO and Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre 2019;Solórzano and Cárdenes 2019;Aleksandrova 2020). Moreover, some studies find cash transfers and input subsidy programmes to be associated with increased natural resource extraction, land clearances, loss of natural vegetation cover, deforestation, and soil degradation (Alix-Garcia et al 2013;Weldegebriel and Prowse, 2013;Haug and Wold 2017;Dyngeland et al 2020); for example, through cash access and new inputs enabling intensification of agricultural production. In contrast, other studies find social assistance to be associated with decreased natural resource exploitation, by reducing dependence on revenues linked to environmental resources (Malerba 2020).…”

“…Access to social assistance programmes, especially in the form of cash transfers, public works schemes, and crop insurance, has been associated with agricultural intensification, shifts from subsistence to commercial crop production (e.g. from rice to cotton cultivation), mono-cropping, and in turn increased dependencies on high-cost inputs and vulnerabilities to price fluctuations, as well increased exploitation of water resources and biodiversity loss (Panda 2013; Jha et al 2017;Asfaw and Davis 2018;Godfrey-Wood and Flower 2018;Dyngeland et al 2020;Yiridomoh et al 2021). Some authors note that public works programmes might have maladaptive effects, in that public works projects may be linked to large-scale infrastructure development, intensified/expanded agricultural production (including commercial crops), and in some cases re-greening initiatives such as reforestation/tree planting, which in some cases could lead to negative ecological impacts; for instance, increased water use through expansion and intensification of irrigation and cultivated land area (Panda 2013;del Ninno et al 2016;Steinbach et al 2016;Jha et al 2017;Asfaw and Davis 2018;Godfrey-Wood and Flower 2018;Kaur et al 2019;Bowen et al 2020;Dyngeland et al 2020;Fischer 2020;Norton et al 2020;Yiridomoh et al 2021).…”