Carbonic gas (CO₂) emissions, one of the main gases of the greenhouse effect, dropped 84.4% between 2004 and 2011 in the forests and land use change. This was due to the decreasing deforestation in the Amazon, which showed a downward trend between 2005 and 2013 and hit its lowest level in 2012 (4,571 km²). 

In the period between 2008 and 2013, the lowest number of fires (115,184 outbreaks) took place in 2013, whereas the highest number (249,274 outbreaks) occurred in 2010. Fires were concentrated in some areas, the larger and most recurrent being the so-called Deforestation Arc, which encompasses the south and the east of the Legal Amazon.

The use of agrochemicals more than doubled between 2000 and 2012. In 2002, when the use was the lowest, 2.7 kg of agrochemicals were traded by hectare, while 6.9 kg/ha were traded in 2012. Products considered averagely dangerous were mostly traded in the period between 2009 and 2012, accounting for 64.1% of the items traded in 2012.

Renewable energy lost participation in the Brazilian energy matrix and registered its lowest participation in a decade (42.4% in 2012). On the other hand, the participation of petroleum and its derivatives, non-renewable sources of energy, increased from 36.7% to 39.2% between 2008 and 2012.

These are some of the results of the 6th edition of the Sustainable Development Indicators (SDI) Brazil 2015, which gathers 63 indicators aiming at giving an overview of Brazil in four dimensions: environmental, social, economic and institutional. The National Household Sample Survey (PNAD), the Gross Domestic Product (PIB), the Municipal Agricultural Production (PAM) and the Population Projection of Brazil, all of them produced by the IBGE, were among the sources used to build the indicators. This study also uses data from ministries, state and municipal departments, Ibama, DataSUS, Iphan, Unesco and other institutions.

Started in 2002, this new publication updates indicators already published and unveils new information, as well as reasserts the objective of making available an information system to follow up the sustainability of the development pattern of Brazil.

For the first time, this study brings information on the Brazilian environmental and cultural diversity, by means of the Brazilian Cultural Heritage indicator, comprising 11 cultural and 8 natural heritages, all of them recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).

The complete publication can be accessed at: www.ibge.gov.br/home/geociencias/recursosnaturais/ids/default_2015.shtm.

Environmental Dimension: carbonic gas emissions decrease 84.4% between 2004 and 2010

Including 19 indicators, the environmental dimension of the SDI approaches subjects related to greenhouse gas emission, air and water pollution, use of agrochemicals, fires, deforestation, as well as information on basic sanitation, among others.

Greenhouse gas emission registered a drop of 84.4% of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in the forest and land use change (from 1,579,660 Gg to 246,245 Gg) between 2004 and 2010. This was due to the reduction of the deforestation in the Amazon, which hit its lowest level in 2012 (4,571 km² of deforestation).

Since 2008, the lowest number of fires (115,184 outbreaks) took place in 2013, whereas the highest number (249,274 outbreaks) occurred in 2010. The spatialization of the hotspots made evident their concentration in some areas of Brazil, the larger and most recurrent being the so-called Deforestation Arc, which encompasses the south and the east of the Legal Amazon. In this area, fires and deforestation were responsible for the destruction of large forest areas. Pará (20,542), Mato Grosso (17,768) and Maranhão (16,189) were the states that recorded the highest number of hotspots in 2013.

Indian areas (TIs) and conservation units (UCs) also suffered fires, though less intense. In 2013, the hotspots in these areas accounted for 14.9% of the total hotspots in Brazil. Having reduced the number of hotspots in relation to 2012 (from 30,956 to 17,137), the same trend for Brazil was registered in 2013.

The biome analysis also showed swinging numbers, like the reduction of the number of hotspots in all the biomes between 2012 and 2013. The Amazon posted the highest number of hotspots along all the years under analysis (48,929 in 2013), followed by the Cerrado (42,622 hotspots in 2013). All the other biomes together (Caatinga, Atlantic Rainforest, Pantanal and Pampa) accounted for 20.0% of the total number of hotspots in 2013. Although the most deforested biome, the Atlantic Rainforest has been continuously decreasing since 2011 (85.5% of its original area up to 2012).

Deforestation in Legal Amazon decelerates from 27.8 thousand km² in 2004 to 5.8 thousand km² in 2013

Between 1997 and 2004, annual gross deforestation in the Legal Amazon recorded a continuous growth, hitting its highest level in 2004 (27,772 km²). Between 2005 and 2013, it tended to fall, hitting its lowest level in 2012 (4,571 km²).

As to the cumulative gross deforestation between 1997 and 2013, the analysis of the two halves of this 16-year period showed a deceleration between 1997 and 2004, when 159,078 km² were deforested, whereas 89,158 km² were deforested between 2005 and 2013.

Outside the Amazon, the Cerrado had 49.0% of its area deforested up to 2010, while the Caatinga lost 46.0% of its area up to 2009. As the only biome restricted to a single Federation Unit, the Pampa encompasses 63.0% of Rio Grande do Sul and had 54.0% of its vegetal cover deforested up to 2009. The Pantanal had 15.0% of its area deforested.

Brazil has 1.5 million km² of protected areas

In 2013, Brazil had 1,783 land and marine conservation units (CUs), adding up to 1.5 million km² and surpassing the areas of Portugal, France and Germany together. The total area of the CUs registered a strong growth: they represented 5.4% of the national territory in 1992 and, in 2013, 17.3%.

The Federation Units with the highest proportions of their territories in protected areas were the Federal District (93.5%), Amapá (62.8%), Acre (32.3%) and Pará (32.2%). Amazonas and Pará together concentrated 9.4% of the protected areas in Brazil.

The Amazon held the largest protected area - 26.1%, of which 16.3% are of sustainable use and 9.4% of integral protection -, as well as the largest CUs in terms of extension, which encompassed an area of 1,093,604 km². The Pampa and the Pantanal were the biomes with the lowest proportions of their territories in CUs (2.7% and 4.6%, respectively). The Atlantic Rainforest, the Cerrado and the Amazon had the highest number of CUs (964, 362 and 313, respectively).

Brazil has 627 endangered species, most in Atlantic Rainforest

A total 627 species of the Brazilian fauna were considered endangered species, half of them in the vulnerable category. The groups that had the highest number of endangered species were birds (160), freshwater fishes (142) and insects (96 species).

Among the biomes, the Atlantic Rainforest had the highest number of endangered species of the flora and fauna (275 and 269, respectively), followed by the Cerrado (131 flora species) and the Amazon (118 fauna species).

The majority of the endangered species of the flora were found in the Southeast and South. Of a total number of 4,617 species, 45.9% were classified as endangered species, in the Vulnerable (VU), Endangered (EN) or Critically Endangered (CR) categories.

Ozone is main pollutant in urban areas

Produced in the lower atmosphere by reactions resulting from burning fossil fuels, ozone (O₃) emission was one of the critical points for the atmospheric pollution as it is difficult to control. The increase of the vehicle fleet hampers the control of O₃ concentrations, as well as increases the direct emission of other atmospheric pollutants. Among the pollutants studied in the city of São Paulo, for example, ozone was the one that posted the highest number of violations against the primary standard (576 in 2012). It was also the most critical pollutant in terms of number of violations in Belo Horizonte (65 in 2011).

Use of agrochemicals more than doubles in 10 years

The trade of agrochemicals and the like by planted area registered a continuous increase since 2009, reaching 6.9 kg/ha in 2012. This represented an increase of 4.2 kg/ha in a period of ten years, since the number was 2.7 kg/ha in 2002.

As to the analysis by classes of environmental danger, the classes III (dangerous product) and II (very dangerous product) were the most representative in the 2009-2012 period, accounting for, respectively, 64.1% and 27.7% of the total number of agrochemicals traded in 2012. Class IV (less dangerous product) registered a continuous growth in the period under analysis. In 2012, the most traded classes of agrochemicals were the herbicides (62.6%), followed by insecticides (12.6%) and fungicides (7.8%).

The Southeast Region recorded the biggest trade of agrochemicals by area unit (8.8 kg/ha), followed by the Central-West Region (6.6 kg/ha). Among the Federation Units, the biggest numbers were reported in São Paulo (10.5 kg/ha), Goiás (7.9 kg/ha) and Minas Gerais (6.8 kg/ha), and the lowest, in Amazonas and Ceará (less than 0.5 kg/ha).

Pollution and raw sewage affect quality of inland waters

Between 2001 and 2003, the percentage of treated sewage in Brazil was lower than 60.0%. In 2009, this rate reached 68.4%. It declined from 2010 onwards, possibly due to the higher number of municipalities sampled (from 1,739 in 2009 to 1,948 in 2010). In 2011, the rate declined to 67.9%. Thereby, the volume of treated sewage increased by about 1.6 billion m³ (or 15.4%) between 2001 and 2011.

The Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and the Water Quality Index (WQI) are indicators of water quality in stretches of rivers and dams. BOD measures the amount of oxygen needed to degrade organic matter in water. The higher its value, the worse the water quality. WQI uses nine parameters - temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, thermo tolerant coliform, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total residue and turbidity - and varies between 0 and 100. The higher its value, the better the water quality.

Among 367 monitoring points in Brazil, 73.0% recorded an average BOD within the standards established by the National Council of Environment (Conama), which is between 0 and 5 mg/l. The low percentage of treatment of the sewage thrown in water bodies was reflected in high BODs and low WQIs in stretches of rivers that cross urban or industrialized areas, like the High Tietê/Metropolitan Area of São Paulo (including Billings Dam) and the Iguaçu/Metropolitan Area (Paraná).

Other important water bodies posted BOD annual average figures below the limits, like the Paraíba do Sul River - in the stretch that supplies the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro - and the Caí, Gravataí and Sinos rivers - which form the Guaíba Lake, in the metropolitan area of Porto Alegre.

Social dimension: even tending to reduce, diseases related to inadequate sanitation still persist

SDI 2015 data registered advances in the majority of the 21 indicators of the social dimension, which assess the meeting of human needs, improvements in life quality and social justice. The indicators are related to subjects like demography, employment, health, education and violence.

Even tending to decline, the number of hospitalizations due to diseases related to inadequate environmental sanitation (DRIES) was still high. 202.6 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants occurred in 2013, a reduction of 37.8% compared with that of 2000 (326.1 per 100 thousand inhabitants). Regional differences were remarkable: while 396.1 persons had been hospitalized per each 100 thousand inhabitants in the North Region in 2013, this number reached just 78.3 in the Southeast. As to the states, some of them scored above 500 (Maranhão, Piauí and Pará), whereas São Paulo registered 55.5 hospitalizations per 100 thousand inhabitants, the lowest figure in Brazil.

Previously swinging, the coverage of shots like measles, triple viral and polio rapidly increased since the second half of the 1990s, even reaching all the target population or getting near it. BCG was always of great amplitude since the beginning of the period under analysis, starting from 90% and reaching full coverage (100%) since 1995.

Vaccination changed in the 2000s, when the triple viral was replaced by the tetravalent in 2002 and the measles vaccine was incorporated into the triple viral from 2003 onwards. This last one has been registering full coverage since its implementation, whereas the tetravalent has been swinging, yet always with high rates (from 94% to 100%).

The increase of the proportion of children immunized against measles is one of the indicators used by the United Nations to assess the achievement of the infant mortality rate goals.

Economic dimension: non-renewable energy increases participation in Brazilian energy matrix

In addition to information on energy and recycling, the 11 indicators of the economic dimension approach data related to the GDP, Brazil´s debt and radioactive waste.

The final per capita consumption of energy constantly increased along the 2000-2012 period, except for 2009, having changed from 41.5 GJ/inhabitant in 2000 to 53.3 GJ/inhabitant in 2012. The population increased, on average, 1.2% per year, whereas the consumption of energy grew 3.3% per year. The drop in 2009 (47.8 GJ/inhabitant) was possibly due to the world crisis in 2008. The increasing access to essential consumer goods and to infrastructure services by the population led to the increase in the consumption of energy, which, in turn, impacts the population and the environment.

The participation of non-renewable energy in the Brazilian energy matrix increased from 56.1% in 2003 to 57.6% in 2012, mainly in the supply of petroleum and derivatives, which changed from 36.7% to 39.2% between 2008 and 2012. Fossil fuels continued to master the Brazilian energy matrix (57.6%). Further analysis of the distribution of different renewable sources showed that sugarcane and charcoal derivatives were losing participation, partly due to the relative increase of alternative sources (solar, wind, biomass, biogas, etc.). The participation of these sources in the energy matrix changed from 2.8% in 2003 to 4.1% in 2012. The participation of firewood and charcoal dropped from 13.2% to 9.1% between 2004 and 2012. Although considered renewable sources, they are not always produced in a sustainable way, i.e., from planted forests for such end.

Recycling tended to grow between 1993 and 2012. Aluminum can, whose reutilization reached 97.9% in 2012, remained the highlight. For example, the aluminum Recycling Index - not only can - in Brazil hit 98.3% in 2011, above those of Japan (92.6%), Argentina (91.7%) and United States (65.1%), as presented by the Corporate Commitment on Recycling. This was due to a number of factors, like the existence of recycling markets in all the regions of Brazil, the convenience of collecting, transporting and selling the available stock all year round and the high market value of aluminum scrap.

About 59.0% of post-consumption PET packages were recycled in 2012. Just recently recycled, long life packages - also known as carton packages or tetrapak - recorded lower figures. They reached only 29.0% in 2012, as they need to have their component materials separated - paper, aluminum and plastic -, which hinders the recycling of these packages.

Institutional dimension: Unesco recognizes 11 cultural and 8 natural heritages in Brazil

Including 12 indicators, the institutional dimension approaches subjects like international multilateral agreements, legislation, technology services and cultural heritage.

Today, Brazil has 11 cultural heritages and eight natural heritages considered world heritages by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). Six of them were recognized between 1980 and 1987, mostly historic cities. Twice this time (1987-2012) was needed to have other five cultural heritages recognized as of world importance. The oldest was the Urban and Architectural Complex of Ouro Preto (MG), in 1980, and the most recent were the Historic Center of the City of Goiás (GO) and the São Francisco Square, in São Cristóvão (SE), approved in 2010, as well as Rio de Janeiro landscapes between mountains and sea (RJ), approved in 2012.

As to the natural heritages, the National Park of Iguaçu, in Paraná, was the first to be recognized in 1986. Eight natural heritages had been recognized up to 2001, when the National Parks of Veadeiros e Emas (GO) and the National Park of Fernando de Noronha and the Rocas Atoll (PE) were included in the list. Except for the Southeast, all the Brazilian regions and the majority of the biomes, except for the Pampa, have at least one natural heritage in the list.

The list of intangible cultural heritages belonging to the World Heritage includes the Samba de Roda of Recôncavo Baiano (BA), Graphic and Oral Expression of Wajãpi (AP), Frevo of the Carnival of Recife (PE) and Círio of Nazaré (PA). In 2011, the Committee highlighted an intangible cultural heritage to be urgently safeguarded: the Yaokwa, a ritual of the Enawene Nawe people (MT), between the Cerrado and Amazon.

Most tangible heritages are located in the Southeast and Northeast, whereas the intangible heritages are more evenly spread along the Brazilian territory, mostly in the North Region.