The Development of the Brazilian Amazon Region and Greenhouse Gases Emission: A Dilemma to Be Faced!

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to verify the existence of possible tradeoffs between policies direct to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) with the ones direct to foster the development of the Brazilian Amazon Region, which is one of the poorest in the country. In order to achieve this goal, this paper uses an interregional input-output (I-O) model, estimated for the Brazilian economy for the year of 2004. The I-O model is used to make a comparison between the economical and the environmental relevance of each sector in the economies of the Amazon region and the rest of Brazil. This study considers the greenhouse gases emissions not only from the economic activities by itself, but, also for the more important factor of the land-use changes. This is a fact of most importance, given that in 2005, about 60% of the Brazilian GHGs emissions were due to the land-use change in its different biomes. Moreover, in the Brazilian Amazon region, especially in the last decades, the deforestation was linked mainly to economic factors than to policies conducted by the government. The results show that the sectors with the greatest importance in terms of emissions are cattle and soybean production. Also, they are also the most prominent for the region's economic development. This poses a dilemma that needs to be faced not only by Brazil, but also by the developed nations, as the burden of the reduction in the greenhouse gases emission in the Brazilian Amazon region cannot be only put on the poor population of the region!

De árboles y personas. ¿Qué funciona en el desarrollo, trabajo y medio ambiente en la Amazonia brasileña?

“…The recognition of the threats from uncontrollable climate change and of the vital role of forests generally and of the Amazon forest in particular, has put forests into focus as stores of and potential sinks for CO2. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in 2005 was responsible for 60 percent of all emissions in Brazil and accounted for 2 percent of all global emissions (Imori et al, 2011).…”

Investimentos para mitigação da emissão de GEE no Brasil : perspectivas da macroeconomia ambiental

“…Neste caso, no entanto, o efeito indireto prevalece. Este fato pode ser esperado pelo fato de que é um setor que exige grandes quantidades de insumos dos setores agrícolas (IMORE, et al, 2011).…”

Forests and cities: essays on urban growth and development in the Brazilian Amazon

“…It also holds some of the largest mineral deposits in the world, particularly in the State of Pará. Environmentally, it holds the largest tropical rainforest in the world, whose burnings and deforestation are responsible for about 58% of emissions of greenhouse gases in Brazil, and about 2% of global emissions (Imori et al, 2011). This deforestation process, by its turn, is one of the main global environmental concerns in the world nowadays, not only due to such greenhouse gases emissions, but also because of the potential irreversible biodiversity loss associated with it.…”

“…Also, recent literature found evidence supporting that deforestation in Brazilian Amazon is highly correlated to global warming and climate change. Imori et al (2011), for example, using an Input-Output model, calculate that deforestation in Brazilian Amazon was responsible for about 58% of total greenhouse gases emissions in Brazil, and about 2% of total global emissions, in the year of 2004. Economically, the region hosts the current agricultural and cattle raising frontiers in Brazil, which holds capitalintensive cultivation of soybeans, whose exports have been boosting the recent surpluses in the Brazilian trade balance (Morton et al 2006;Vera-Diaz et al 2009).…”