BACKGROUND OF STUDY

The quest for economic growth led by industrialization in emerging economies like Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC hereafter) has a negative impact on environmental management. It is apparent that rapidly growing economies are causing severe pollution problems in the form of emissions of various forms of gases like the carbon dioxide CO2. A higher growth rate often leads to higher rate of growth of population, rapid industrialization, a greater disposable income, higher standards of living, and increases trade in energy intensive products, which impacts on country’s total emissions (PAPER 2).

Brazil is an ideal candidate to represent the construction of a country’s profile on the relationship between economic development and environmental degradation.

It has energy and environmental characteristics of global importance and is the fifth most populous country in the world. In terms of energy consumption, it is the third largest after United States and Canada and the highest CO2 emitter within the Western Hemisphere. Brazil is endowed with a wide range of energy resource, environmental assets and technologies. The Brazil Amazon rainforest holds 30% of the world’s tropical forest which serves as a habitat for at least 10% of the world’s plant and animal species and acts as a CO2 absorbing mechanism.

Giving Brazil’s exuberant economic growth, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Brazil has been increasing at an annual rate of 2.74 percent and is worth 1575 billion dollars or 2.54% of the world economy, according to the World Bank. The South American Nation is one of the fastest growing emerging economies in the world, with large and growing agricultural, mining, manufacturing and service sectors. Brazil economy ranks highest among all the South American countries and it has also acquired a strong position in global economy Read more: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/GDP-Growth.aspx?Symbol=BRL#ixzz0t5xx5Dzq.

In 1980s, international attention was given to one of Brazil’s environmental problems which was deforestation of the Amazon caused by high rate of clearing and burning between 1970s and 1980s. Deforestation in the Amazon declined between 1988 and 1991 mainly because of economic crisis. While Desertification, another vital environmental problem in Brazil received international attention after the United Nations June 1992 Earth Summit Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro. Critics suggest that the 1980’s economic crisis aggravated environmental degradation in Brazil due to overexploitation of natural resources, settlement on frail lands in rural and urban areas, and weakened environmental protection. However, on the other hand, reduced economic activity may have lowered pressure on the environment, such as the abovementioned reduced rate of investment in large-scale clearing in the Amazon (ENVIRONMENTwebsite page)..