Indicadores de sustentabilidade mostram necessidade de revisão em modelos de desenvolvimento na caatinga da Paraíba

Abstract

Sustainable development is the best current alternative for promoting a prosperous society. However, the dryland regions are among the most vulnerable areas on the planet and faced various problems in achieving sustainable development. One such region is Caatinga, the largest semiarid nucleus in South America, located in northeastern Brazil. We analyzed the effect of social, economic and environmental indicators on the Human Development Index (HDI) of the municipalities located in Caatinga, Paraíba State, between 2000 and 2010. Our results show that social indicators had the main contribution to the MHDI 2010 of these municipalities. Schooling was the indicator that had the greatest positive effect on the HDI and increased significantly between 2000 and 2010. Although economic indicators increased between 2000 and 2010, they had no influence on the human development indicator. In 2010, the main contributions of the economic indicator in the municipalities of the region came from public resources, but it had no effect on the HDI. The indicators of agricultural and industrial development do not vary between the years analyzed and also did not contribute to the human development indicator in all periods. In addition, we did not observe the effects between the environmental indicators and the MHDI, therefore, the municipalities with the highest natural cover areas are not showing the lowest human development indicators. For the sustainable development of the municipalities of Paraíba inserted in Caatinga, it is a reassessment of investments in the economic sectors and conservation of natural areas, seeking landscapes resilient to disturbances, with maintenance and improvement of investments in education and health.