Mário Pires de Almeida Olivetti

This doctoral thesis challenges the assumption of our current development model in the search for the so-called sustainable development. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation &Development (OECD), sustainable development involves the use of natural and human resources to meet present needs without compromising future generations production capacity. This new premise calls for improving the quality of life for the population as a whole. From the perspective of a regional observation point, the study tries to understand the extent to which the agriculture and livestock sector of the western region of the state of Sao Paulo fits this paradigm. Based on this focus, the specific objectives of this research effort are twofold: to understand social, economic and environmental conditions and to identify locations with higher or lower degrees of production system sustainability. An attempt is also made to evaluate the capacity of the indicators used to register the different levels of sustainability, in particular the socio-spatial. That would point to consistent alternatives, aimed at solving some of the problems pervading society and natural resources. The multivariate analysis (factorial and cluster analysis) was used to represent the cities of the western region of the state of São Paulo. A total of 150 cities were examined and the 33 variables selected to characterize them referred to: labor availability, revenue, education and health, as well as the territorial distribution of land property concentration, of population and of agriculture and livestock activities. Also considered were the economic and demographic pressure on the environment and production capacity resulting from the adoption of agricultural practices, S&T, technical assistance and labor access, the effects of which can interfere with the agricultural production technical efficiency index. The results obtained regarding the assessment of sustainability allowed to verify that none of the cities of the region studied have characteristics related to the sustainability paradigm. In fact, some cities have even shown an unsustainably low level of development. The socio-economic indicators proved the importance of the variables chosen and the method applied in studies of this nature. It was possible to draw a mosaic of the spatial heterogeneity of this region, which empirically validates what several researchers have emphasized as basic factors aimed at sustained development, notably of the agricultural sector.

"O setor agropecuário no contexto da sustentabilidade: a região Oeste do Estado de São Paulo" / THE AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK SECTOR WITHIN THE SUSTENTABILITY CONTEXT: Western São Paulo state

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