Ensaios sobre degradação ambiental na América Latina e no Rural Brasileiro

Abstract

In this dissertation it was analyzed the levels of environmental degradation in Latin America and Brazil. For a better understanding of the subject, the work was divided into two chapters, in which different methodologies and databases are used. In the first chapter entitled "Environmental Degradation and its Relationship with Economic and Financial Development in Latin American Countries" data are described on the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by Brazil and Latin America, obtained through the World Development Indicators (WDI). In order to analyze whether economic aspects, financial development and energy consumption tend to increase or not the environmental degradation in Latin American countries in the period 1999-2014, the regression model was used with panel data by the method of generalized least squares (GLS). The results showed that the relationship between environmental degradation and economic development had the inverted "N" format in relation to the countries' degradation, but the aggregate value of the industries had a directly proportional relation with the quantity of CO2. It was also observed that the variables of electricity and energy used have a positive relation with environmental degradation, and on the other hand, imported energy and foreign direct investment are negatively related. In the second chapter entitled "Conditions of Environmental Degradation in the Brazilian Rural Environment" are described the situation of rural houses in relation to environmental pollution. It aims to analyze the relationship between environmental degradation and economic growth in the Brazilian countryside, for which the Logit Ordenado model was used. The results allow us to conclude that the Nordeste, followed by the Norte and Centro-Oeste, is the region where houses are most inadequate, and, in contrast, the Sul-Sudeste axis presents houses with the best sustainable conditions. In analyzing the relationship between environmental degradation and economic growth in the Brazilian countryside, it was concluded that economic growth presented the inverted "N" format in relation to degradation for all regions, with income and dimensions of access to education, health and information were decisive for this achievement.