ICSM, SUSTAINABLE GROWTH INDEX OF THE MUNICIPALITIES

Mato Grosso(Brazil), State Representative Janaina Riva

I would like to present to you the ICSM, a sustainable growth index for municipalities, which we have created in my office based on several social, economic and environmental indicators of the 141 municipalities of Mato Grosso. It is a tool that can help in understanding the level of development and sustainable growth of the municipalities of Mato Grosso and that can also be useful for the elaboration and monitoring of public policies, such as the targeting of tax benefits, and parliamentary amendments.

The ICSM, like the HDI, establishes a ranking of municipalities by development. But while the HDI is limited to diagnosing income, health and education, the ICSM also assesses the municipalities' environmental conditions and seeks to understand the roots of poverty by monitoring the municipal GDP profile and percentage of families benefiting from the “Bolsa Familia".

ICSM outlines a profile of the municipal economy, presenting the main activities already in existence and those that are in the process of being better explored. Therefore, when a company wants to install a fish fridge, for example, the government can encourage it to settle in one of the municipalities that already has the potential to supply the raw material and, in order to Economic dynamism.

In addition to encouraging investments for the needy communities, the ICSM can serve as a guide to the more prosperous municipalities, such as demonstrating that Cuiabá, although not a major agricultural producer, can be an important railway branch, housing processing Agribusiness, since it is geographically and strategically close to the producing regions, and counts on a respectable cultural and educational center, which today is an important capital for attracting companies and executives.

Among the several conclusions that the ICSM can reach, is that the municipalities with less dynamic economic activities, generally where they prevail in livestock, end up being very dependent on the economy of the public sector, with municipalities as major employers, on the other hand, these municipalities Who have the highest percentages of families using the “Bolsa Família” program and have the lowest GDP per capita, so that their citizens almost always live with the lowest average salaries and the worst indicators of health and education.

Another dimension of the well-being of society that ICSM introduced was environmental. Through the existence of forest areas in the municipalities but also by measuring the hot spots, the intention was to value the environmental capital of the municipalities since the forests, besides the economic potential, also add a subjective value, that is, if preserved it influences the Quality of life, including the promotion of biodiversity (hence the importance of forest economics and techniques such as sustainable management). However, the hot spots (which can indicate burnings and forest fire) represent the opposite.

Example of tables that the study produces: The amount of municipalities by classification of the ICSM. And out of curiosity, a comparison of the GDP per capita of the municipalities of Mato Grosso with some countries. Among the municipalities with stagnant ICSM is Barão de Melgaço, whose per capita GDP compares with that of Iraq. On the other hand, municipalities such as the Cuiabá capital, considered with dynamic ICSM, have GDP per capita similar to that of Chile.

Already in this other graph, we have a condensation of data on the economic activities of each municipality, where we see that if we add the forest area only from Colniza and Aripuanã in the north of the state, we will have an area larger than that of Switzerland. Of forests in MT exceeds the total area of ​​Italy), in addition to other economic activities such as the great mineral potential in Aripuanã. The study also reveals that soy is advancing in all regions in the state, living with family farming crops, such as rice that is not only produced in three municipalities of Mato Grosso.

As the ICSM is annual, it is very interesting to compare the evolution of indicators such as deforestation, families with “Bolsa Família”, sectors: public, industry, services and agriculture in the municipalities' GDP, paid wage average, dairy basin, export profile, health, education , Among others. With this, I hope to expand the debate about the state and the way of production that we want, creating planning instruments and public policies that help to reduce social and regional inequalities in Mato Grosso.

Janaina Riva, Mato Grosso (Brazil) State Representative