Title: The environmental impact of economic activities: the case of the five economic macroregions of the State of Santa Catarina/Brazil

Authors: Marcos Ferasso

Addresses: School of Administration, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

Abstract: The different developments in each of the five Catarinian macro-regions have led the author to investigate if the regional differences can delay the economic growth of the State of Santa Catarina and how is the actual vegetal covering after this economic exploration. This case study delineates the economic basis and the regional differences through descriptive analysis of diagnosis. The results showed the presence of regional differences that gives foundation to the economy strength. When the European immigrants had arrived in the State, the estimate was that more than 80% of the total area of Santa Catarina was covered by forests. The solo occupation and the uses of the native forests as economic way of development were responsible for a great reduction of this covered area. This paper shows that there is a great environmental impact of the economic activities more concentrated in macro-regions 1 and 2.

Keywords: environmental impact; economic activities; regional development; Brazil; regional differences; economic development; forests; sustainable development; sustainability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESD.2007.016244

International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 2007 Vol.6 No.4, pp.436 - 450

Published online: 11 Dec 2007 *

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