Brazil

This report analyzes the dynamics of violent crime in Brazil. What factors are driving the overall crime decline in Brazil? Why is violent crime declining in some states... Show More + while it is increasing in others? What types of interventions could help to reduce youth violence? These are the questions that motivate this report. Understanding what has gone right to bring crime down during the past 10 years is crucial to tackling the challenges posed by the new decade. The purpose of this report is to enhance that understanding. To do so, we examine the determinants of the crime shift at the national level, review the experience of the high-performing states, and generate new evidence on the impact of education policies on youth violence prevention. This report is organized in four chapters. Chapter one sets the stage for the issues covered in the report. Chapter two estimates the correlation of the change in crime in Brazil and across regions and states. Chapter three reviews the evidence on the policies implemented to reduce crime and violence in Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro. Chapter four presents findings on the impact of school enrollment on youth crime and violence prevention. The last section summarizes key lessons. Show Less -

This report provides a comprehensive description of the full process for supporting the new supervisory authority for closed pension funds in Brazil, The National Superintendence... Show More + for Pension Funds, supervisor of the closed pension fund system in Brazil, or PREVIC, in particular through the development of a revised approach to the risk-based supervision of closed pension funds. This report documents the first-funded World Bank project which, in conjunction with PREVIC, the supervisor of the closed pension fund system in Brazil (established in January 2010), has sought to provide guidance to implement a risk based supervision (RBS) appropriate to Brazilian environment, drawing on international experience. The project ran from January 2010 to March 2012. The key outputs of the project were specified as: i) an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the current supervisory benchmarking against best practices in RBS around the world; ii) a roadmap for the implementation of RBS under the circumstances prevailing in the industry; iii) proposals for regulations on selected critical elements for the implementation of RBS framework; and iv) training to supervisors and senior executives of closed pension funds about the main challenges of introducing RBS. Show Less -

This chapter introduces the main issues associated with population aging, many of which will be investigated in detail throughout the volume. The next section describes... Show More + the demographic transformation that Brazil has been experiencing and highlights its specific features, including a very rapid population aging process in the next few decades. Then the main economic framework behind this work, the life cycle theory according to which individuals' economic behavior varies according to their age, is discussed. The section after that introduces the first and second demographic dividends associated with the changing population age structure that accompanies the demographic transition of any country. Next covered is how poverty is linked to the life cycle in Brazil and the role of public transfers in reducing poverty among different age groups, followed by an investigation of how public expenditures vary across age groups and generations and what makes Brazil distinct from comparable OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) and Latin American countries. Concluding the chapter are the main findings of the report. Show Less -

The landscape of Brazil is changing. The country is consolidating its urbanization and its historic hinterlands are becoming better integrated with the domestic and... Show More + global economy. With growth strong, a favorable economic forecast and poverty levels declining, the country is turning increasing public policy attention to addressing its housing problem, to planning for future growth in cities, and to converting the Amazon into an engine of green growth through agriculture and environmental services. But the legacy of accumulated problems in housing supply, urban planning, land governance and management of the Amazon region are daunting overhangs which the society has only begun to address. This report assesses progress in addressing these challenges from the perspective of land governance. Land governance plays a fundamental role in housing creation, urban management, agricultural productivity and environmental outcomes. The report is organized in four chapters. Chapter 1 examines three areas of the land governance framework that have been culpable in creating and sustaining informality and outlines remedial steps that have been taken in each case to date. The areas of governance addressed are the legal framework; land information systems; and the delivery mechanisms for land use planning and management. Chapter 2 profiles informal land settlement in six urban municipalities and reviews their implementation experiences with regularization programs. Chapter 3 focuses on the land regularization program in Para and its close linkages to environmental regulation enforcement. Chapter 4 discusses the future of land governance. Show Less -

Urban sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Brazilian cities are growing. At the national level, the dominance of greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation... Show More + in Brazil masks the fact that emissions from other sectors, like Energy, Transport and Waste, are growing quite rapidly in cities. Compared to other cities around the world, Brazilian cities have low per capita GHG emissions because of the high level of renewable energy production; but as Brazilian cities continue to grow, the pressure towards higher emissions will persist. The majority of emissions from Energy in Brazil result from the use of fossil fuels and electric power by industry. Industrial processes using fossil fuels will continue to be the largest contributor to emissions growth over the long-term, but electricity generation will produce the highest emissions increase in the period up to 2030. For the past three decades, the trend has been for industries to move away from city centers to peripheral locations that are cheaper and have easier access to distribution networks. However, all the GHG emissions inventories completed to date by Brazilian cities are limited to municipal boundaries, making it difficult to assess the role of industrial emissions at the metropolitan level. One clear trend within city boundaries is that residential consumption of electricity is increasing. As households become wealthier, the size of housing units tend to get larger and the number of domestic appliances increase and residential consumption of electricity is expected to grow drastically in the next two decades.Transport emissions are rapidly growing, especially in urban areas. Fossil fuel–based emissions in Brazil are low compared to other countries due to the prominence of renewable-energy sources for electricity and fuels. In fact, ethanol substitutes for two-fifths of gasoline fuel. However, transport-sector emissions are rapidly growing due to increased motorization and congestion. This is coupled with a tendency for smaller agglomerations to grow in a sprawling manner, which is directly impacting the growth of GHG emissions, since the amount of vehicle travel is linked to urban form, i.e. the location of housing, jobs, commerce and entertainment.
A distinguishing characteristic of Brazilian cities is the high percentage of emissions from waste. The waste sector constitutes about 4 percent of GHG emissions on average in cities.1 A key driver of waste emissions is the amount of waste produced and collected. In Brazil the amount of waste collected has increased by about 4 percent per year since 1970. The amount of solid waste collected in urban areas is expected to continue increasing in the next two decades due to increased generation of waste and improvements in the collection system. This will likely result in an even higher share of GHG emissions for the overall sector.
Climate change impacts are widespread. Climate impacts from global warming in major Brazilian cities have been identified and include flooding from intense storms, increased temperatures, and droughts. Sea level rise is also identified as a concern for Brazil because 25 percent of Brazil‘s population lives in coastal cities. Brazilian cities are taking action against climate change. In response to concerns about global climate change, Brazilian cities have been world leaders in defining GHG emissions reduction targets and adopted local climate change laws. Some cities have completed GHG inventories, established reduction targets, and taken measures to mitigate emissions. Show Less -

This report presents the partial results related to land use, land-use change and the forestry sector from a larger multisectoral low-carbon study for Brazil. Since... Show More + the 1992 Kyoto Accord, Brazil has been committed to reducing its carbon emissions. The overall aim of this study was to support Brazil's efforts to identify opportunities to reduce its emissions in ways that foster economic development. The primary objective was to provide the Brazilian government with the technical inputs needed to assess the potential and conditions for low-carbon development in key emitting sectors. To this end, the World Bank study adopted a programmatic approach in line with the Brazilian government's long-term development objectives. These are: to anticipate the future evolution of Brazil's emissions to establish a Reference Scenario; identify and quantify lower carbon-intensive options to mitigate emissions, as well as potential options for carbon uptake; assess the costs of these low-carbon options, identify barriers to their adoption, and explore measures to overcome them; and build a low-carbon emissions scenario that meets the same development expectations. The study also analyzed the macroeconomic effects of shifting from the Reference Scenario to the low-carbon one and the financing required. Reference-scenario results for these main areas show that deforestation remains the key driver of Brazil's future emissions through 2030. The study evaluated the mitigation and carbon uptake options, assessing all the relevant sub-sectors for each sector; determined the viability of the options investigated; and finally, constructed low-carbon scenarios for each sector to assist them lowering their greenhous gas (GHG) carbon emissions. Show Less -

The worldwide carbon market is a reality. It has contributed to the implementation of projects that aim to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in many different s... Show More + ectors and it has turned GHGs, represented by carbon, into economic assets that are no longer mere environmental liabilities. In this context, Brazil currently ranks third in the world in terms of the number of projects on the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Brazil pioneered the development of the first large scale methodology and registration for the first project in the history of the CDM. Despite Brazil's significant qualitative and quantitative participation in such projects, there is still great potential for the development of other types of CDM project activities. Given the new methodologies for CDM projects approved over the last few years and the programmatic CDM, which intends to reduce bureaucracy and accelerate the registration process for closely related projects, there exists an even greater potential for CDM projects in several sectors in Brazil. The main objective of this study was to identify the existing technical potential for low carbon projects as described above as well as to stimulate the implementation of low carbon projects in Brazil, thus contributing towards reducing and avoiding Brazil's current and projected emissions and inserting Brazil into the new low carbon economy. Generally speaking, the study focused on sectors where there is still a potential for the application of conventional techniques or technologies to reduce or avoid GHG emissions. Show Less -

This study aims to underpin Brazil's efforts to explore methods for reducing total emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) arising from all areas of human activity. More... Show More + specifically, this study seeks to highlight low-carbon alternatives for Brazil´s transport sector. These alternatives could contribute positively to the world's climate, as well as benefit Brazil's socio-economic development. The technical inputs for evaluating potential carbon emissions reduction will be submitted to the Brazilian government to assist it in the design and deployment of joint planning strategies in key sectors, including transport. To ensure that the study targets the most important areas, it adopts an overarching approach. CO2 results from the combustion of any material containing carbon, including fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas, which consist of long chains of hydrocarbons and are widely used for electricity generation and transport purposes. Industrial activities such as metallurgy, steel and cement manufacturing also produce large amounts of CO2. Changes in land use caused by forest fires during or after the process of deforestation are also responsible for CO2 emissions, since the loss of forest cover releases some of the carbon stored in the soil and dead vegetation. Brazil's contribution to global CO2 emissions is substantial due to forest burning, and halting biomass burning should certainly be a national priority. The results for the transport sector, calculated using the methodological approach and criteria outlined in the introductory paragraphs, are presented in this report as follows: chapter one is a general overview of the transport situation in Brazil, its evolution and impacts, highlighting specific issues related to GHGs; chapter two describes the methodology employed in the study; in chapters three and four analyzes possible strategies that could be considered for reducing GHGs in the transport sector; and finally, chapter five presents the main conclusions, suggesting possible policies and strategies for Brazil to pursue. Show Less -

The book analyzes the success of Brazil's public debt management practices. Over the past 10 years, Brazil has strengthened these practices so impressively that in early... Show More + 2008, with the threat of a strong financial crisis in the world ahead, the main rating agencies assigned Brazil the investment grade. Despite the serious financial crisis that actually erupted in 2008, Brazil's credibility with domestic and international investors remains high. This book is organized into three parts: Part I, Understanding the Brazilian Public Debt; Origin and history of Brazil's public debt up to 1963, provides an historical and conceptual analysis of Brazil's public debt, exploring its main concepts and sustainability, and offering a view of its progress from its inception to the present. Part II, Managing the Brazilian Public Debt, describes all aspects of FPD management. Part III, The Public Debt Market in Brazil, describes how the public debt market operates in Brazil. It reviews recent developments and follows with the characteristics of public securities traditionally used to finance debt, along with their pricing schemes. Next, it describes the organization of Brazil's financial markets, the operation of primary and secondary debt markets, the expansion of the investor base over time and the main holders of government securities. Show Less -

This report is designed to provide policymakers with estimates of the likely outcomes of an array of potential changes in transportation sector policy. To this end,... Show More + the report uses a variety of economy-wide models to simulate alternative cost reductions and efficiency improvements. A detailed discussion of the various policies that may yield efficiency gains and cost reductions, as well as the specifics of their implementation, is beyond the scope of the report. The report is structured to move from a general description of Brazil's transportation sector to more specific analyses and simulations of individual and concerted changes. The first chapter sets the stage by providing a summary discussion of Brazil's transportation sector that includes both an overview of its historical development and a look at the recent evolution of government policies. In the second chapter, the fiscal and economic effects of shifts in public investment between alternative and competing transportation modes (roads, railroads, and waterways) are simulated using a fixed-price input-output model. The report's third chapter uses a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to analyze the effects of cost reductions in land transportation on macroeconomic variables and income distribution. The fourth chapter uses a multiregional CGE model to simulate the effects of port efficiency improvements on regional economic development (including short- and long-term growth, employment, and welfare). The fifth chapter uses a similar model to analyze the national and state-level impacts of two federal highway projects in the state of Minas Gerais in terms of economic growth, regional inequalities, employment, and poverty. The last chapter summarizes the findings and provides conclusions and recommendations. Show Less -