International Conference REGIONAL GOVERNANCE IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT - - PDF document

International Conference “REGIONAL GOVERNANCE IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT” WORKSHOP SESSION 3 Regional Inequalities within Emerging Countries 12 – may – 2009 / 09:30 – 12:00 hs MÁRCIA REGINA SARTORI DAMO Secretary for Regional Programs Ministry of National Integration Brazil Seul le texte prononcé fait foi Check against delivery Es gilt das gesprochene Wort

• Mr. President of this session and Director-General of the European

Comission, Mr. Dirk Ahner; Other table partners, Mr. Alex Kremer, World Bank Representant;

• Mr. Toussant Abel Coulibaly, Vice-Minister of Burkina Faso;

Professor acques François Thisse, from the Catholic University of Leuven; Professor Sergeu Artobolevskiy; from the Russian Science Academy; and Mr. Soumaïla Cissé, from the West African Economic and Monetary Unioc (WAEMU). Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me first thank, on behalf of brazilian Ministry of National Integration, the invitation to participate in this Conference, where I come with great satisfaction, not only because of its theme, but also for the opportunity it is to enhance the remarkable cooperation we

have been building with European Union, towards the exchange of experiences, focused on brazilian and european development policies. Promptly going to the main point of this session, I start tackling the dimension of the inequalities in my country, through a comparision between some relevant indicators presented by the geographic Brazilian’s micro-regions. This first picture shows us the population density of Brazil. This distribution reveals that the majority of our population is established near the coastline areas, state capitals or big metropolis. The existence of urban centers dispersed in the country, is also showed, for example Brasília, Manaus and Goiânia. In these areas we may find demographical densities higher than 54 inhabitants per square kilometers. On the opposite side of this high coastline density we have in the midland part of our country some areas where the demographical density is less than 11 inhabitants per Km², for example in the North and Center-West regions and in parts of the Northeastern Semi- Arid. In these low density areas, the occupation is associated with the low absorption capacity of labor; with the low dynamism of their activities; or with their late and inefficient integration with the more dynamic areas of the country. May I observe that the low population density in Amazonia is normally also associated to environmental conservation unities or marked areas for native indians. Despite the high coastline density, we have been observing a slow but constant changing in occupation standards in the early two

decades, with a clear improvement on the midland occupation process, as shown in this second picture. When analyzing the socio-economic characteristics

• f

the population, we note a change in the coast/midland contrast, which has been replaced for a new Northern/Southern contrast, showing strong regional differences. As an example, in this next picture we may observe that the percentage of adult people with a maximum of 4 years study is greater in the upper side of the map, as to say, in the North, Northeast and part of Center-West Regions. As we observe the next picture, we may identify a clear division of Brazil into two, due to the concentration of the adult population with more than 12 years study in the southeastern and southern regions. Is noted, thus, that we still have regional educational inequalities which certainly demands strong efforts to be solved. In this way, the last 10 year, we have been increasing the offering of education in

• ur regions for the last 10 years, conscious that government and

society must share the responsibilities on prioritize investments on education. Another dimension that points to substantial inequalities is the urbanization level. In the picture now showing, we see high urbanization levels in the South, Southeast and Center-West

• regions. These areas, except for some spots in the center of

Parana, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul States, are characterized by the highest urbanization levels when compared to North and Northeast regions, exception made to state capitals and main midland urban poles. Regions that present lower urbanization levels are also basically rural areas.

In general, areas with low educational levels coincide to those with less urbanization levels. This situation leads us to a new idea that the development in Brazil passes through a new approach to the rural environment, which includes the necessity of providing, in smaller urban poles, the strengthening of necessary essential services. The same pattern so far illustrated is also shown in the distribution

• f average domestic incomes levels per inhabitant in each micro-

region, compared to the brazilian average, here represented as a territorial attribute. As shown in the picture, the micro-regional percentages highlight areas in which this proportion is observed as being much lower, ranging from 16 to 33% of national average. These areas, mainly located in North and Northeast regions, are also less frequently identified in other micro-regions in the South, Southeast and Center- West regions. Negative rates of Gross Domestic Products are also associated to these areas. Extremely opposed to this, there are some areas with income levels that reaches the national average. These are located, predominantly, in the South and Southeast regions and constitute themselves in regions which had been always incorporated to the economic dynamics of the country, or so are to be in a short term, as the cases of commercial farming of corn, cotton and soy. In the same situation can be named some areas closed articulated to areas of urban concentration, such as metropolis regions or state capitals in the Northeast. The next picture, which gathers information regarding the economic dynamics, expressed by the micro-regional GDP, shows us the

inexistence of a well-defined regional pattern, what helps us to explain the population movements and migration towards better socio-economic opportunities. The midland areas are remarked from the coaster ones. The agricultural and cattle rising activities, characteristic of the last decade, seem to oppose themselves to the urban-industrial economic crisis, started at the end of the 80’s. In synthesis, the analysis of the presented information outpoints: a) the cohexistence, all over Brazil, of dynamic, competitive sub regions, presenting high income rates, with sub regions that present poor life conditions and traces of economic stagnation; b) the presence of micro-regional demographic dynamics and GDP growth that mark a disperse territorial profile, in a context of low aggregated economic growth and falling rates of natural expansion of the population. c) the persistence of an expressive macro-regional model to the differentiation of the main variable points, high lightening the distance between the North/Northeast regions and the South/Southeast, as well as the Center- West to a certain point. d) the high difference among income level and other variable points presented by Amazon and Northeastern Semi-arid, in relation to other regions. In order to deal with these presented inequalities, Brazil has been adopting mechanisms and instruments that, although being implemented since the end

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90’s decade, have been

institutionalized only in February of 2007, through a Presidential Decree. Actions then running were consolidated under a major public policy for the national strategic planning process, the National Regional Development Policy, which started to stimulate different government sectors to incorporate in their acting procedures additional efforts in

• rder to improve internal integration, as well as with State and

Municipalities governments, opening space for the largest as possible participation of organized civil society. This public policy holds therefore different instances of articulation, formulation and operation, according to the basic scales of intervention. The national instance is that over which general criteria for actions in the territories are taken, where selected sub-regions are defined for the national regional development policy interventions to be made, as well as those to be the object of other public policies. Regarding macro-regional instances, it prevails activities of creating strategic development plans, articulation of actions and promotion of special initiatives. This instance is specially relevant in North and Northeast, partially in Center-West, where the regional development mission embraces substantial parts of the respective territories and demands a considerable level of actions integration in a scale higher than the sub-regional one. In this way, the re-creation of the Superintendence for Northeast Development – SUDENE, the Superintendence for Amazonia Development – SUDAM and the Superintendence for Center-West Development – SUDECO, has properly come in order to fill the necessity of having this kind of agencies, which are able to

represent the Regional Development Policy close to its beneficiaries, and to discuss with them in order to reach a consensus upon improvements on their strategic development propositions. The operational actions are located predominantly in the sub- regional instances. In this territorial scale, the “mesoregions” constitute themselves in the unities where federal actions, selected under the criteria defined for all the national territory, are articulated. To these spaces, institutional governance spaces are attached, such as forums, councils or development agencies, according to arrangements established by local actors themselves. I invite you all to observe this picture, that shows the major territories

• f the brazilian National Regional Development Policy.

In Brazil, actions aiming territorial development are preferentially taken in this mesoregional scale. It’s proper to mention, thus, the importance of the Northeastern Semi-Arid and the Frontier Boarder as specially areas, both strategically important for development and national integration. The first one, which holds 40% from the total of Northeast population and only 20% of the GDP, for being a sub-region which traditionally presents precarious living conditions and low economical activities; the second one, for being an strategically important area for the south-American integration, an issue specially focused by the Brazilian Federal Government. Acting in the mesoregional scale, under a previously established agenda, foresees: implementation of medium and small scales infra- structure; support to innovation and its practices in local productive

arrangements; labor capacitating; support to increasing the related assets; and credit access to productive unities. All this support for mesoregional actions starts from the consensus built by the local governance, around a development plan which should point out to the Ministry of National Integration and uther government agencies, the particular mix of actions to be supported. The social forces, organized around and for the mesoregion development, including public organisms and civil society in general, as well as the shared understanding of regional reality, that stablish, in fact, the local strategy for action. Through actions in this territorial scale, we have already been able to observe, in Brazil, important results of spaces and comunities incorporation to the global development process of the country, although favorable macroeconomic indicators are unable to punctuate or to give evidence to results and advancements achieved in minor scales. Let me point out some examples:

• The organization of the productive activity of fishing, with a

high standard of social promotion and with a high impact on the local marketing practices, in the Mesoregion of Alto Solimões, in the far west of brazilian Amazon;

• Still in the Amazon, the environmental and economical

sustainable restructuring of productive arrangements of non- wood extraction activities, such as látex and brazilian nuts in Vale do Rio Acre Mesoregion, as well as tourism in the amazonic portion

• f

the Mesoregion Chapada das Mangabeiras;

• In the northeastern part of Mesoregion Chapada das

Mangabeiras, the highlights are the production and marketing

• f the “cachaça”;
• In the Mesoregion Bico do Papagaio, located in the

geographic transition from the Amazon to the Center-West and Northeast of Brazil, activities such as mining, and fruit and honey production have been leading the region to surpass its so far predominant economic stagnation;

• In brazilian northeast, structural projects gain evidence as job

and income creators in mesoregions such as Chapada do Araripe and Xingó, where honey and fruit production, “ovinocaprinocultura” are the highlights, while in the Mesoregion of Seridó mining regains its important hole of the region’s economic dynamics;

• In the Mesoregion of Águas Emendadas, which corresponds

to an area aside the development route towards brazilian Center-West, local development has been given impulse by better dynamics of activities such as handcrafting, garment industry, fruit production, cattle raising, fishery and tourism. To demonstrate the importance of a policy which has to be national and to reorient the focus of the regional issue in Brazil from the North/Northeast x Southeast/South dichotomy, let me mention the following examples of revitalization of depressed subregions which are located inside regions which are known as the most developed

• nes in Brazil:
• In the Mesoregion of Itabapoana, which holds territorial shares
• f Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro States, in

the brazilian southeast, support projects on activities of fruit and honey production, as well as fishery, are giving sustainability to economic stagnation reversing processes;

• The Mesoregion of Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri, which

holds municipalities of Minas Gerais, Bahia e Espírito Santo States, has reoriented its development path through promising initiatives in the fields of furniture, fruits and “apicultura” activities;

• In the middle of a major economic development área of the

country and historically apart from this process, the Mesoregion of Vale do Ribeira/Guaraqueçaba, in the eastern frontier of Paraná and São Paulo States, has met again its vocation for wood and furniture, fruits and tourism activities; and

• In the southern country, the mesorregions of Metade Sul do

Rio Grande do Sul and Grande Fronteira do Mercosul have been sucessful in reverting their economic stagnation through the productive arrangements of furniture, grape and fruits production, fishery and familiar agroindustry. The brazilian National Integration Ministry has been doing its best, thus, to fullfill its mission of reducing the inter and intra regional disparities that can be perceived throughout our whole country. The regional development programs under our responsability, namely PROMESO – Program for Promotion of Sub-regional Spaces Sustainability, Frontier Line Development Program and CONVIVER – Program for Integrated and Sustainable Development

• f the Semi-arid, help the National Integration Ministry to support

regional innitiatives and projects, which structure local productive arrangements, create jobs and income, give incentives to social participation, cooperation, associativism and social capital, simultaneously working on fundamental elements devoted to development promotion, aiming to modify the reality of less privileged regions and improve life conditions of their people. I hope those information helped you to have a better understanding

• f brazilian national regional development policy, under a

geographical point of view, through which we’ve been trying to reverse the picture we still present in Brazil of inequalities and exclusion of regions and the people who there live, work and strive for their deserved better quality of life. Thank you all for the attention and good afternoon!!

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