Brazil

First Interim Report of Brazil on Testing of the
CSD Indicators of Sustainable Development

Coordinating organization:
The Ministry of Environment, Water Resources and the Legal Amazon (MMA).

The focal point for Brazil is:

Dra. Marilia Marreco Cerqueira
Directora do Departamento do Gest o Ambiental
Ministerio do Meio Ambiente, dos Recursos Hidricos e da Amazonia Legal
Esplanada dos Ministerios, Bloco "B", sala 838
Brasilia, Brasil, CEP 70068-900
Tel: (55-61) 317-1215
Fax: (55-61) 317-1352
E-mail: mmcerqueira@mma.gov.br

As you requested, we would like to give you some initial information about our organizational arrangements for the testing process.

In order to establish a national coordination to introduce environmental sustainable principles within public policies, according to Agenda 21, the Brazilian Government created the Interministerial Commission for Sustainable Development (Comiss o Interministerial para o Desenvolvimento Sustent vel - CIDES) in 1994, which as, among other duties:

1. to propose strategies and national policies for implementation of the activities established in Agenda 21, with special concern for their incorporation in global and financial planning within national administration.
2. to propose legal instruments for the implementation of the Agenda 21 and to meet the Rio's Declaration and other commitments arising from international agreements and conventions.

1. International Affairs Coordination under the responsibility of the Ministry of External Relations.
2. Climate Change Coordination under the responsibility of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
3. Biodiversity Coordination under the responsibility of the Ministry of Environment, Water Resources and the Legal Amazon.

Simultaneously, MMA has developed projects supporting CIDES, with the help of research and scientific institutions such as the Coordination of Post-graduate Studies in Engineering at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro - COPPE and the Technological Foundation Center of Minas Gerais - CETEC.

Those, in general, are the preliminary activities that are being implemented by the Brazilian Government which demonstrate the necessary support to the testing process.

As soon as we have concluded the report, according to the timetable presented in "Guidelines for National Testing IDS", we will send you a copy.

1. ADEQUACY OF THE INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK IN THE COUNTRY

   The testing of Sustainable Development Indicators will be developed by networking the state level agencies through the National Environmental System (SISNAMA). It is noteworthy that the SISNAMA has been working for, at least twenty years, promoting the cooperation between Federal and State Agencies.

   The cooperation will be organized within the National Integrated Environment Monitoring Program (MONITORE), where selected indicators of the Environmental Category will be tested.

   The central question in organizing the network cooperation will be the exchange of experiences between the State Agencies. In Brazil, each State has the autonomy to organize and implement its own environmental data inventory, therefore an inventory of the available data and the methodologies of primary data generation is needed before the start up of the testing process. As mentioned above, this will be done within the MONITORE Program. This phase will be developed, among other federal agencies, with the Brazilian Geographical and Statistics Institute (IBGE).

2. DATA AVAILABILITY

   Some State Agencies have a long time experience in monitoring air and water quality, covering some of the Sustainable Development Indicators. However, the central question will be the extension of the monitoring process to achieve a nation wide network.

   In 1998, and for the following two years, the MMA will be developing the MONITORE Program, where funds, technical skills and inter-state cooperation will help to overcome the gap between the State Agencies.

   It is expected that a first inventory of the available data sources and a Director of Institutions working on environmental monitoring will be achieved by April 1998. This Directorate will also be available for download at the MONITORE Homepage at the Internet Site of the MMA.

3. ADEQUACY OF METHODOLOGY

   The testing of the proposed methodology, and an in-depth analysis of nation wide use of a set of selected indicators, will be conducted after the inventory of the available data within the State Agencies.

   It is expected that the Brazil-Germany twinning process will help to speed-up and improve the overall process of reviewing the usefulness of the CSD methodology to the Brazilian context.

4. SELECTION OF INDICATORS ACCORDING TO THEIR RELEVANCE TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

   The sustainable development indicators to be tested by the Brazilian Government will be selected from the Environmental Category of Indicators. The final set of indicators to be tested will be discussed and agreed by the State Agencies.

   The first step in the process, a preliminary list of indicators already in use by Brazilian institutions has been achieved at the end of 1997. These indicators will provide the necessary background of the indicator, methods and methodology and time series available.

   This preliminary inventory of environmental indicators will be published by next August and will be available for download at the MONITORE Homepage, at the same time.

   The building-up of this preliminary inventory was based on a series of thematic meetings covered the air, water, soil and biota issues, convened under the MMA coordination during last year, with the participation of representatives of the State Agencies, Universities and Technological Centers working on monitoring and ecological research.

   For further information, please contact: