Sustainable Human Development at the Municipal Level: A Data Envelopment Analysis Index

Pedro A. B. Lima; Gilberto D. Paião Júnior; Thalita L. Santos; Marcelo Furlan; Rosane A. G. Battistelle; Gustavo H. R. Silva; Diogo Ferraz; Enzo B. Mariano

doi:10.3390/infrastructures7020012

Lima, Pedro A. B.;Paião Júnior, Gilberto D.;Santos, Thalita L.;Furlan, Marcelo;Battistelle, Rosane A. G.;Silva, Gustavo H. R.;Ferraz, Diogo;Mariano, Enzo B.

2022-01-21 00:00:00

infrastructures Article Sustainable Human Development at the Municipal Level: A Data Envelopment Analysis Index 1 , 1 2 3 Pedro A. B. Lima * , Gilberto D. Paião Júnior , Thalita L. Santos , Marcelo Furlan , 2 2 1 , 4 , 5 1 Rosane A. G. Battistelle , Gustavo H. R. Silva , Diogo Ferraz and Enzo B. Mariano Department of Production Engineering, School of Engineering of Bauru, Campus Bauru, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Bauru 17033-360, Brazil; gilberto.paiao@unesp.br (G.D.P.J.); diogoferraz@alumni.usp.br (D.F.); enzo.mariano@unesp.br (E.B.M.) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering of Bauru, Campus Bauru, São Paulo University (UNESP), Bauru 17033-360, Brazil; thalita.lacerda@unesp.br (T.L.S.); rosane.battistelle@unesp.br (R.A.G.B.); gustavo.ribeiro@unesp.br (G.H.R.S.) Department of Production Engineering, Campus Nova Andradina, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS), Nova Andradina 79750-000, Brazil; marcelo.furlan@ufms.br Innovation Economics, Institute of Economics, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany Department of Economics, Institute of Social and Applied Sciences, Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP), Mariana 35420-000, Brazil * Correspondence: pedro.ab.lima@unesp.br Abstract: The development of indexes for human development and environmental sustainability issues are an emerging topic in the current literature. However, the literature has put less emphasis on municipal indexes, which is the focus of this research. In this paper, we considered municipal environmental management as the adoption of environmental activities and the development of Citation: Lima, P.A.B.; Paião Júnior, infrastructural and technical capacities in municipalities. This article aims to create a sustainable G.D.; Santos, T.L.; Furlan, M.; human development index with municipal data from the state of São Paulo in Brazil. Using informa- Battistelle, R.A.G.; Silva, G.H.R.; tion from the Municipal Human Development Index (IDHm) and the GreenBlue Municipal Program Ferraz, D.; Mariano, E.B. Sustainable Human Development at the (PMVA), we applied the data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique to connect human development Municipal Level: A Data and environmental sustainability in 645 Brazilian municipalities. Our ﬁndings show that regions with Envelopment Analysis Index. higher human development present better DEA scores on the Sustainable Human Development Index. Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12. In contrast, regions with a low or a middle level of human development do not present signiﬁcant https://doi.org/10.3390/ change considering both dimensions. Moreover, our ﬁndings reveal that PMVA certiﬁcation has infrastructures7020012 a different and statistically signiﬁcant impact on the DEA score considering certiﬁed, qualiﬁed, or Academic Editor: Enrico Zacchei not qualiﬁed regions. We found similar results for urbanized and service-oriented municipalities. Our indicator is an essential and straightforward tool for regional policymakers, helping to allocate Received: 30 December 2021 resources and to ﬁnd human development and environmental sustainability benchmarks among Accepted: 17 January 2022 developing regions. Published: 21 January 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral Keywords: human development; sustainability; environmental program; environmental manage- with regard to jurisdictional claims in ment; data envelopment analysis (DEA); index; infrastructure; urban management published maps and institutional afﬁl- iations. 1. Introduction Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Development indexes that only measure economic aspects, such as gross domestic Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. product (GDP), are increasingly being considered inadequate to measure the development This article is an open access article of a region [1]. In this way, other important dimensions for human life were incorporated distributed under the terms and in development indexes, such as health and education, which are present in the Human conditions of the Creative Commons Development Index (HDI) [2,3]. In the last two decades, however, besides the incorpora- Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// tion of social indicators, there was also the recommendation to consider environmental creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ indicators in development analysis [2,4,5]. 4.0/). Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12. https://doi.org/10.3390/infrastructures7020012 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/infrastructures Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 2 of 24 In this context, some authors have been proposing adaptations and new ways of measuring the HDI, including environmental sustainability indicators, in what can be called the Sustainable Human Development Index (SDHI) [2]. In addition, Furlan and Mariano [6] have developed a national environmental justice index by using data development analysis (DEA) with human development and environmental data. Local governments are important for the achievement of sustainable development and require appropriate sustainability indicators [7]. Some initiatives have been considered at the local level, in different parts of the world, to improve environmental public policies and, therefore, environmental quality [8,9]. One important case is voluntary and regional initiatives that aim to increase the autonomy and responsibility of local governments towards aspects of public environmental management [8]. Within this context, in 2007, the Secretariat of Environment of the state of São Paulo, Brazil, created the Município Verde (Green Municipality) Initiative [10], currently named Programa Município VerdeAzul (GreenBlue Municipality Program (PMVA)). The program aims to stimulate the city halls of São Paulo to adopt environmental management practices, including the development of actions and infrastructure provisioning. The municipalities may receive certiﬁcation for achieving the goals described in the program’s guidelines, which facilitates access to ﬁnancial resources from the state budget of São Paulo [11]. Sustainability is an important issue to be addressed by municipalities, which need to consider social, environmental, and economical aspects in order to be considered truly sustainable [12]. Discussions about sustainability should not disregard the social justice premises in environmental management programs. Although these programs are important, they are not sufﬁcient to guarantee the sustainable development of the regions implement- ing them [13]. Therefore, there is the problem of how to better measure the sustainable development of municipalities that adopt environmental management programs. The aim of this paper is to create an index that considers both human development and environmental indicators at the municipality level, named the Sustainable Human Development Index. To achieve this goal, this research relied on data envelopment analysis (DEA) to create an index using data from the Municipality Human Development Index (HDIm)—a Brazilian internal adaptation of the HDI to evaluate human development in the municipalities—and the grades from the PMVA. In this way, it is possible to increase social justice aspects in the PMVA, creating higher coverage for the index. As already highlighted by Sena et al. [14], social and environmental aspects need to be considered in order to achieve sustainable development in a region. Aside from the importance of the theme from the practical perspective, this study also contributes to the literature by analyzing a Latin American country, which has fewer studies in the human development literature than more developed regions [4]. Other countries, that have environmental initiatives, can use the approach present in this research in order to develop an index that includes more aspects related to sustainable development in the local context. Moreno-Pires and Fidélis [7] highlighted how municipal sustainable indica- tors should consider a broad range of dimensions. According to the authors, composite indicators might consider several dimensions to represent social, economic, demographic, and environmental aspects. Another important aspect of this research is that it is related to some of the Sustain- able Development Goals (SDGs) promoted by the United Nations [15], especially goal 11—Sustainable Cities and Communities. The SDGs are an important instrument to pro- mote the three sustainable development pillars (economics, environment, and social) to be achieved in the long term [16]. According to Moyer and Bohl [17], several of the SDGs are closely related to human development. This might indicate a tendency of developing pro- grams to consider both human development and environmental elements together [18,19]. This study is structured as follows: Section 1 presents the introduction with the research problem and objective. Section 2 presents a theoretical background concerning sustainable human development and municipal environmental management. Section 3 presents the material and methods, describing the data used and how the index was Infrastructures 2022, 7, x FOR PEER REVIEW 3 of 26 sustainable human development and municipal environmental management. Section 3 presents the material and methods, describing the data used and how the index was de- veloped. Section 4 presents the results and discussion. Section 5 presents the conclusions of the research. 2. Conceptual Framework In this section, we present the research framework (Figure 1), where we describe the relationship between human development and environmental action (here represented by municipal environmental management) in order to generate sustainable human devel- opment. Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 3 of 24 Some studies posit that better levels of human development can increase the number of sustainable development actions, which, in turn, can support human development [6,20–22]. Furlan and Mariano [6] applied this idea to mitigation and adaptation strategies in the climate change context. Lima et al. [22] incorporated this idea in circular economy developed. Section 4 presents the results and discussion. Section 5 presents the conclusions initiatives. Therefore, in this research, we suggest that the increase in human develop- of the research. ment, including better levels of health, education, and resources, positively affects munic- 2. Conceptual Framework ipal environmental management, which supports the development of better infrastruc- ture, management practices, and policies, which in turn supports the increase in human In this section, we present the research framework (Figure 1), where we describe the re- develop lationship men between t. This cyc human lical rel development ationship can and le envir ad toonmental the achievem action ent (her of e su repr stai esen nable ted human by mu- develop nicipal envir ment. onmental management) in order to generate sustainable human development. Figure 1. Conceptual framework. Figure 1. Conceptual framework. Some studies posit that better levels of human development can increase the num- In this context, it would be important that environmental programs consider human ber of sustainable development actions, which, in turn, can support human develop- development issues in its metrics. Next, we present the human development concept and ment [6,20–22]. Furlan and Mariano [6] applied this idea to mitigation and adaptation its relationship with sustainability and the notion of sustainable human development. strategies in the climate change context. Lima et al. [22] incorporated this idea in circular economy initiatives. Therefore, in this research, we suggest that the increase in human development, including better levels of health, education, and resources, positively af- fects municipal environmental management, which supports the development of better infrastructure, management practices, and policies, which in turn supports the increase in human development. This cyclical relationship can lead to the achievement of sustainable human development. In this context, it would be important that environmental programs consider human development issues in its metrics. Next, we present the human development concept and its relationship with sustainability and the notion of sustainable human development. Then, we present the importance of municipal environmental management and brieﬂy describe the PMVA, which was used as a proxy for the municipal environmental management in Brazil. Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 4 of 24 2.1. Sustainable Human Development The idea of human development emerged as a way to complement the purely eco- nomic notions of development, such as the gross domestic product (GDP) [3]. “Human development is about enlarging freedoms so that all human beings can pursue choices that they value” [23], p.1. This deﬁnition is grounded in the capability approach, which is the main concept in the human development ﬁeld [24]; according to this theory, development should be seen as the increase in the individual’s freedoms in order to have and be whatever they value [24]. For the capability approach, freedom is both the means and the ends of development [3,24]. Sustainable development incorporates aspects of intergenerational justice into the intragenerational justice already present in human development [25]. Sustainable develop- ment is the “development that prompts the needs of present people without compromising the needs of future generations” [26]. In this way, it is not possible to minimize the privations currently faced, especially considering the poorest, to the detriment of the future generations; both need to have their capabilities and freedoms ensured [13,25,27]. According to Haughton [13], sustainable development does not require only the adaptation of human behavior, but also the adap- tation of the infrastructures that inﬂuence these behaviors, which includes economic and social aspects. The concept of environmental justice emphasizes the need to avoid the ones who have fewer resources, exactly the ones who pollute the least, being the ones who are the most affected by environmental problems [28]. Therefore, environmental justice also has a human development connotation [20]. Therefore, human development has a direct rela- tionship with sustainable development, since the individuals’ quality of life depends on a proper environment [27]. A feedback effect also occurs, that is, the increase in individ- uals’ capabilities tends to increase the development of a better environment, due to the application of better behaviors, practices, and technologies that improve environmental quality [22]. Nagy, Benedek, and Ivan [29] found a strong correlation between local HDI in a Romanian region with the indexes of the SDGs achievement, which may indicate a positive relationship between investments in human development and the achievement of sustainable aspects. This may be related to sustainable human development, which is the relationship between human development and sustainable development [2]. The HDI is the most used approach to measure human development in the world. It was developed by Mahbub ul Haq, who had the capability approach as one of the main inspirations. The HDI has three dimensions (economic, education, and health) divided into four indicators (gross national capital per capita, school life expectancy, average years of schooling, and life expectancy at birth), being disclosed annually by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) [3,30–32]. According to Dalberto et al. [33], by incorporating these dimensions, the HDI kept the capability approach notion of the development of focusing not only on monetary aspects but also on the social one. As pointed out by Assa [2], the educational and health dimensions measure capabilities, while the monetary measure is a commodity. The HDI has undergone a “natural selection” process of the indexes, that is, its indica- tors and manners of calculation have been adapted when necessary, in such a way that it continues to be used even years after its creation [34]. However, the HDI is not exempt from criticism, such as the simplicity of its dimensions; lack of qualitative analysis (for example, quality of education); and the lack of elements directly related to the environment [3,32,33]. Considering the limitations of the global HDI, some countries have been adapting the indicators to better represent the national context. The UNDP encourages this initiative for these countries to increase, substitute, or create new approaches to the HDI’s indicators in order to develop more adequate measures for their realities. In Brazil, this index is called the Municipality Human Development Index (HDIm), and it has been applied at the municipality level since 1998 [35]. Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 5 of 24 In 2013, the HDIm began to use the Demographic Census database from 2010, adapting the indicators of the global HDI for the indicators collected by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The HDIm presents the same dimensions as the traditional HDI, although it uses different variables and measures to represent human development in Brazil. While the HDIm uses data collected by the IBGE, the HDI uses data from several agencies from the United Nations and other international agencies [35,36]. In the HDIm, the indicator for health is life expectancy at birth, the income is repre- sented by the municipality income per capita, and education is measured by two indicators: (1) the population that is 18 years old or more that completed elementary school, with a weight of 1, and represents the schooling of the adult population; and (2) the population between 5 and 6 years old attending school, the population between 11 and 13 years old attending the last years of elementary education, the population between 15 and 17 years old that completed elementary school, and the population between 18 and 20 years old that completed high school; this indicator has a weight of 2 and represents the school ﬂow of the young population. Therefore, the educational dimension is calculated by the geometric mean of indicators 1 and 2. The complete index is also calculated by the geometric mean of the three dimensions mentioned [35]. Considering the aforementioned indicators, São Paulo has the second largest Brazilian HDIm (0.783), only behind the Federal District (0.824) [33]. The HDI also has the importance of providing information to support development policies, which helps policymakers to map human development and decide how to allocate public resources to boost human development in Brazil [33]. 2.2. Municipal Environmental Management Municipal environmental management is the environmental activities performed by local authorities in the municipalities [37]. In this study, the actions developed by local governments to increase their environmental performance are considered, which include: urban management, infrastructure provision, waste management, development of policies, and environmental education and communication. All these actions are important to support sustainable human development [22,38–42]. Almost all countries face difﬁculties in achieving better levels of sustainable develop- ment, which is particularly difﬁcult for developing countries, such as Brazil, that need to reconcile economic development with environmental preservation. This is hampered by the smaller amount of resources compared to developed countries and greater demand from society for aspects of infrastructures and essential services [43,44]. Tortajada [41] pointed out that developing countries still need to increase their investment in infrastructures in order to support human development. One way to mitigate these challenges is not to concentrate all the responsibility on a single government entity, but to share responsibility among different administrative spheres, including local, regional, and national government participation [13,29,45,46]. Municipalities are key actors in fostering sustainable development [7,12]. Among possible advantages, local administrations have greater knowledge about their peculiarities and capabilities, while regional and national spheres can help with technical and/or ﬁnancial support [8,47–49]. It is important to have ways to measure the progress in this kind of activity [49]. Indicators to measure municipality sustainability offer more information for decision makers; Moreno-Pires and Fidélis [7] suggest that these indicators should cover a broad range of dimensions, in order to fully consider sustainable development. The PMVA is a municipal environmental management program in which the São Paulo State Government (regional sphere) encourages municipal governments (local spheres) to adopt environmental management measures [50]. The program is voluntary, so this ﬂexibility in its adoption requires the program to be credible and have a performance measurement mechanism [9]. This point is present in the PMVA, considering that a database was created with the indicators of each municipality and supported by the presence of a Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 6 of 24 team that upholds and helps to train municipalities to develop environmental management actions and planning [11]. Thus, in addition to the generation of local data [8] that may reﬂect greater interest by the local population in matters related to the environment [43]; the municipality also does not see itself as alone in achieving the program’s goals, since it receives support from the state sphere [46]. Currently, the PMVA has 10 dimensions, called directives: sustainable municipality, structure and environmental education, environmental council, biodiversity, water man- agement, air quality, land use, urban forestation, treated sewage, and solid waste. Each directive has a number of tasks related to: development of municipal legislation to support the environmental management and practices, infrastructure and technical capabilities, and quality presented [11]. Table 1 presents a summary of the directives. Table 1. Description of the PMVA directives. Directive Tasks Incentive indicators for the generation and consumption of renewable energy sources, Sustainable municipality inspection of the commercialization of forest products, and incentives for the production and purchase of food from sustainable systems. Implementation of a minimum organizational structure within the administration that Structure and environmental education includes a specialized staff and speciﬁc legislation. It includes the creation of spaces and actions to promote environmental education among the population. Implementation, through speciﬁc legislation, of the Municipal Environmental Council. The administration must prove the council’s activities by means of meeting minutes, Environmental council the year ’s goal plan, topics discussed, participation in PMVA events, and actions developed during the period. Actions for the conservation of fauna and ﬂora through plans and municipal laws (institution of Payments for Environmental Services *). The resources for these actions Biodiversity must be inserted in the annual budget law. * Mechanism that remunerates rural producers for environmental services that beneﬁt the whole society, for example: conservation and restoration of forests. Actions to protect and recover springs, educational actions regarding the conscious Water management use of water, and measures to ensure the quality of the water distributed to the population through laboratory analysis. Actions to reduce air pollution generated by vehicles and ﬁres. In the ﬁrst case, the indicators focus on controlling vehicle emissions as well as encouraging the use of Air quality renewable fuels and public transport. For the second case, the actions involve the mitigation of urban and rural ﬁres and the creation of a ﬁre brigade. Tasks related to erosion control in urban and rural areas, as well as the establishment of a Contingency Plan, through civil defense, to map regions susceptible to dangerous Land use geodynamic processes. It also establishes the management and recovery of areas that are contaminated or at risk of contamination, and the management of areas showing exploitation or potential exploitation of minerals. Development of municipal legislation aimed at the process of afforestation and urban forestry, establishing norms, standards, and adequacy of road infrastructure. It also Urban forestation requires the municipality to carry out an inventory and diagnosis of the trees on the urban perimeter, calculation of the urban vegetation cover (in percentages), and publicity and environmental education actions related to urban afforestation. The directive considers both the coverage of the collection network and the percentage Treated sewage of treatment of the generated sewage. There are also indicators focused on the quality and efﬁciency of the treatment. Actions for the correct disposal of solid waste generated in landﬁlls, waste reduction or reuse programs, implementation of selective waste collection, and programs to Solid waste institute composting (biodigestion) projects. There are also environmental education actions to promote and encourage the population to participate in selective waste collection. Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 7 of 24 It is important to note that even if the directive did not explicitly mention the neces- sity for infrastructure, in order to accomplish its tasks it is necessary to develop proper infrastructure, especially in the directives related to sanitation [42]. For example, proper infrastructure is needed to provide appropriate water for the population as required in the water management directive. These kinds of directives not only impact the environment, but also exert inﬂuence on socio-economic systems [40]. Although the number of directives has not changed, the number of tasks has increased. In the beginning of the program, it ranged from two to three tasks per directive, now it is common to exceed seven tasks that cover action, management, and results related to the directive [11]. Annually, each municipality receives a ﬁnal score, called the Environmental Assess- ment Index (EAI), which is the sum of the points for all tasks of each directive. There are also extra points for proactive actions and a reduction in the score if there are some pending issues or environmental liabilities. The municipalities deliver the documentation to prove and assess the grades, however, 13.73% of the total grades are automatically computed from data measured by other state agencies [50]. The certiﬁcation is granted to municipalities that achieve an EAI score of 80 or more and facilitates the access to resources from the state Environment Secretariat [11]. There is also an intermediate classiﬁcation for municipalities that reach an EAI score between 40 and 80, called qualiﬁcation, in which the PMVA allocates special attention to ascertain whether they are “on the right track” to achieve the certiﬁcation [11]. Thus, it is possible to classify the municipalities into: non-qualiﬁed (EAI score of 0.0 to 39.9), qualiﬁed (EAI score of 40.0 to 79.9), and certiﬁed (EAI score of 80.0 to 100.0). The scoring method has undergone some changes over the years, making the require- ments for certiﬁed municipalities more stringent. In addition to obtaining an EAI score of 80, a score of zero is not allowed in any directive and it is mandatory to implement a minimum municipal environmental legislation. 3. Method The analyses were performed using DEA, as it is an appropriate method to develop an index ranging from 0 to 1 [6]. DEA is a non-parametric technique developed by Charnes, Cooper, and Rhodes [51], being a mathematical model based on linear programming capable of allocating the set of optimal weights to maximize the efﬁciency of a decision- making unit (DMU) [1], which is the DEA unit of analysis. Table 2 summarizes the research method that was based on the three steps proposed by Golany and Roll [52] to apply DEA, and in more three statistical tests. Table 2. Method summary. Step Method Explanation 645 municipalities from São Paulo, Brazil 1. DMU selection Partial Index HDIm_PMVA: # Input: HDIm; # Output: PMVA EAI. 2. Inputs and outputs deﬁnition Partial Index PMVA_HDIm: DEA # Input: PMVA EAI; # Output: HDIm. Variable returns of scale Oriented toward the output Multiplication of the two partial indexes to 3. DEA application develop the Sustainable Human Development Index Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 8 of 24 Table 2. Cont. Method Step Explanation Kolmogorov–Smirnov and Shapiro–Wilk 4. Normality check tests HDIm level (low, medium, and high), H1; PMVA (non-qualiﬁed, qualiﬁed, and certiﬁed), H2; 5. DMU classiﬁcations and hypothesis Urbanization level (rural, intermediate, and Statistical tests development urban), H3; Economic sector (agriculture, industrial, and services), H4. Jonckheere–Terpstra 6. Non-parametric test The ﬁrst step of Golany and Roll [52] consists of choosing the DMUs, which were all the 645 municipalities of São Paulo, Brazil (Figure 2). The estimated population of the 645 municipalities is 44.7 million inhabitants, being the most populous Brazilian state, representing 21% of Brazil’s population. The life expectancy is 79.5 years for women and 73.2 years for men. In the economic aspect, the state presented a GDP of approximately USD 582,18 billion in 2019, representing 31% of the national GDP. Considering the education indicator, the population’s average years of schooling were 9.97 years in 2016 [53]. Regional initiatives, even if located in only one state, are important to be studied, since they can contribute to other locations or sectors with lessons and experiences [9]. Figure 2. São Paulo location. Socioeconomic analyses in speciﬁc regions of a country, such as the municipalities of São Paulo, are advantageous for having more homogeneous DMUs [4], which is considered an important aspect for DEA [8]. DEA has already been used in other studies that evaluated the efﬁciency in transforming economic and development-related resources into sustainable development [5,54], and has also been applied with HDI data [1,33]. Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 9 of 24 The second step of Golany and Roll [52] is the deﬁnition of inputs and outputs suitable for the analyses. For human development, the three dimensions of the HDIm were used, and we used the 2010 version because it is the most up to date. The HDI is the main reference for this type of study in the ﬁeld of human development [4]. The data were collected from the ofﬁcial website of the Institute for Applied Economic Research [55]. For municipal environmental management, we used data from the 10 dimensions of the PMVA. We decided to use the 2019 data instead of those from 2020 (most recent) since the pandemic caused by COVID-19 was an extreme and unexpected event that signiﬁcantly affected society’s way of life [56]. This phenomenon created several challenges in the environmental management of municipalities [57] that could affect the intended analyses in this study. The data were collected from the PMVA’s ofﬁcial platform [58]. For the third and last stage presented by Golany and Roll [52], the application of the DEA and the subsequent analysis of the results were carried out. We chose the output- oriented model, called BCC, since it presents variable returns to scale, that is, the increase in the input does not interfere proportionally in the output. Considering that the objective is to maximize the output and not to minimize the input, the model was applied with the output orientation, as it is not the objective of any municipality to reduce its output (human development or municipal environmental management), but to increase its input (human development or municipal environmental management) [4–6]. Equations (1)–(3) show the output-oriented BCC model. E = Min v x w (1) å j j0 j=1 Subject to: u y = 1 (2) i i0 i=1 m n u y v x + w 0, to k = 1, 2, . . . , hw no signal restriction (3) å i ik å j jk i=1 j=1 where: x is the amount of the input j of the DMU k; jk y is the amount of the output i of the DMU k; ik x is the amount of the input j of the DMU under analysis; j0 y is the amount of the output i of the DMU under analysis; i0 v is the weight of the input j for the DMU under analysis; u is the weight of the output i for the DMU under analysis; w is the scale factor; m is the number of analyzed outputs; n is the number of analyzed inputs; and h is the number of DMU. Since human development supports the adoption of environmental actions, and a better environment supports the increase in human development in a cyclical relation- ship [20,21], in this research, HDIm was the ﬁrst input and PMVA EAI was the output. Then, we also considered the dimensions of PMVA EAI as the input, with the output being the dimensions of HDIm, similarly to what was carried out by Furlan and Mariano [6]. In this way, this research has two partial indexes: HDIm_PMVA and PMVA_HDIm. In both cases the 3 dimensions of the HDIm and the 10 dimensions of the PMVA were considered. Afterwards, the two partial indexes were multiplied to achieve the Sustainable Human Development Index (Equation (4)). Multiplication was chosen because it penalizes possible low results in one of the partial indexes [6]. HDIm_PMVA PMVA_HDIm SDHI = SDHI SDHI (4) where: Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 10 of 24 SHDI is the Sustainable Human Development Index; HDIm_PMVA SDHI is the Partial Sustainable Human Development Index (HDIm_PMVA direction); PMVA_HDIm SDHI is the Partial Sustainable Human Development Index (PMVA_HDIm direction). Initially, the DEA index considered all 645 municipalities, generating an efﬁciency rank- ing of them. The normality test of the index (step 4) was performed using the Kolmogorov– Smirnov and Shapiro–Wilk methods. As in both tests the signiﬁcance level was less than 5%, the index could not be considered to follow the normal distribution, so it was necessary to perform non-parametric tests [59]. After the normality test, we created some groups of municipalities in order to compare them and analyze speciﬁc variables (step 5). We considered four independent features: (1) classiﬁcation in the PMVA, (2) level of HDIm, (3) degree of urbanization, and 4) sectoral participation in the municipal GDP. This group’s analyses were inspired by previous work in the area [6,60]. Next, the Jonckheere–Terpstra test (step 6), which is a test for ordered alternatives within independent samples, was applied in order to test the hypothesis created for each one of these features. This test is considered non-parametric and aims to verify differences between analysis groups and identify trends [61,62]. Thus, it was possible to verify whether or not there was a difference between the groups tested regarding the increasing order of analysis (low, medium, and high). 1. The classiﬁcation of the municipality according to the three PMVA groups (non- qualiﬁed, qualiﬁed, and certiﬁed). From this, we develop the ﬁrst hypothesis H1: municipalities with different classiﬁcations in the PMVA have different performances in the Sustainable Human Development Index. 2. The HDIm and its dimensions (HDIi, DHIh, and HDIe) were divided into three quar- tiles (low HDIm, up to 0.725; medium HDIm, between 0.725 and 0.753; and high HDIm, above 0.753). This does not mean that the HDIm itself is low or medium accord- ing to the UN classiﬁcation, but that it is a relative measure among the municipalities of São Paulo. From this, we develop the second hypothesis H2: municipalities with different levels of human development have different performances in the Sustainable Human Development Index. 3. The degree of urbanization was divided into urban, intermediate, and rural according to the classiﬁcation proposed by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics that depends on both the number of inhabitants and the rate of those living in urban areas [63]. From this, we develop the third hypothesis H3: municipalities with different degrees of urbanization have different performances in the Sustainable Human Development Index. 4. The sectoral participation in the economy considered which sector (agriculture, indus- try, or service) has more than 33% of participation in the municipalities’ economy [64]. From this, we develop the fourth hypothesis H4: municipalities with different levels of sectoral participation in the economy have different performances in the Sustainable Human Development Index. 4. Results 4.1. Descriptive Analysis First, we present the results from the descriptive statistics of the Sustainable Human Development Index. The index ranges from 0 to 1 and the study samples are composed of the 645 municipalities from São Paulo, with the highest value being 0.996 and the lowest 0.168. In this way, it is noticeable that none of the municipalities achieved 100% efﬁciency considering the ﬁnal index. This happened because of the multiplication of the two partial indexes, as when using DEA there is always at least one DMU with 100% efﬁciency, and in the HDIm_PMVA there were 114 municipalities with 100% efﬁciency and Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 11 of 24 in the PMVA_HDIm there were 83. The complete rank is available in the Supplementary Material (Table S1). It is important to highlight that achieving 100% efﬁciency or something close to it does not mean that the DMU should not improve its indicators, since the DMU can present a low output and be considered efﬁcient by having a low input too. That is, the DMU can be efﬁcient in transforming its low input into output and, in this case, it needs conditions to increase its input in order to increase its output, keeping the same level of efﬁciency [33]. In this way, the index will allow the municipality to track its value and compare it with other municipalities with similar demographics and human development conditions. It is possible to notice this aspect regarding the two partial indexes (Table 3), consider- ing that the municipalities with low EAI in the PMVA and with relatively high levels in the HDIm achieve high levels in the partial PMVA_HDIm, but in the inverse relationship of in- puts and outputs, the partial HDIm_PMVA, these municipalities presented low levels in the index. The municipality of Nova Europa represents this case well, considering that it is one of the municipalities in the ﬁrst position with a value of 1.000 in the partial PMVA_HDIm, but it is placed in position 643 with a value of 0.185 in the partial HDIm_PMVA. This aspect highlights the importance of applying the multiplication of the two partial indexes to achieve the ﬁnal index, considering that this approach allows the development of indexes that better suit the municipalities’ reality. In this scenario, the municipality of Nova Europa is only in position 641 with a value of 0.185 in the Sustainable Human Development Index. Table 3. First and last places in the partial and ﬁnal indexes. Sustainable Human Partial IDHm_PMVA Partial PMVA_IDHm Development Index Municipality Position Score Position Score Position Score Águas da Prata 1 1.000 92 0.996 1 0.996 Andradina 1 1.000 98 0.994 2 0.994 Taubaté 1 1.000 104 0.992 3 0.992 Santos 1 1.000 125 0.987 4 0.987 Vinhedo 1 1.000 125 0.987 4 0.987 Nova Europa 643 0.185 1 1.000 641 0.185 Igaraçu do Tietê 641 0.189 173 0.977 641 0.185 Paranapanema 639 0.190 307 0.957 643 0.181 Guaraci 644 0.182 182 0.975 644 0.178 Álvares 645 0.179 450 0.940 645 0.168 Florence Regarding the Sustainable Human Development Index, the ﬁrst ﬁve ranked municipal- ities were (with the respective values): Águas da Prata (0.996), Andradina (0.994), Taubaté (0.992), Santos (0.987), and Vinhedo (0.987). All these municipalities have the PMVA certiﬁ- cation. The municipalities with the PMVA certiﬁcation tend to be in the ﬁrst positions of the index, and the worst ranked in this case is the municipality of São Miguel Arcanjo (0.898), in position 140. The last ﬁve ranked municipalities were: Nova Europa (0.185), Igaraçu do Tietê (0.185), Paranapanema (0.181), Guaraci (0.178), and Álvares Florence (0.168). All of them are non-qualiﬁed according to the PMVA classiﬁcation. The last 360 ranked in the index are non-qualiﬁed municipalities. The Sustainable Human Development Index proposed increases the social aspects that are barely present in the PMVA, in such a way that it makes it closer to sustainable development rather than only environmental sustainability. The index can be an important tool to support local governments to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Besides working as an improvement opportunity for the PMVA, the index has been shown to be feasible to be used in other regions with some adaptations. Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 12 of 24 4.2. Comparative Analyses of the Sustainable Human Development Index A summary of the results found in this section is presented in Table 4, and each one of the hypotheses is further discussed. Table 4. Summary of the hypothesis test. a,b Hypothesis Null Hypothesis Test Sig. Decision Municipalities with different classiﬁcations in the PMVA H1 have different performances in the Sustainable Human Jonckheere–Terpstra 0.000 Accepted Development Index Municipalities with different levels of human H2 development have different performances in the Jonckheere–Terpstra 0.000 Accepted Sustainable Human Development Index Municipalities with different degrees of urbanization H3 have different performances in the Sustainable Human Jonckheere–Terpstra 0.000 Accepted Development Index Municipalities with different levels of sectoral participation in the economy have different H4 Jonckheere–Terpstra 0.001 Accepted performances in the Sustainable Human Development Index a b The signiﬁcance level is 0.50; the asymptotic signiﬁcance is displayed. 4.2.1. PMVA Analyses The ﬁrst analysis regarding the created groups considers the classiﬁcations of the PMVA: non-qualiﬁed, qualiﬁed, and certiﬁed. The non-parametric test of Jonckheere- Terpstra was applied, which is indicated for analyses of ordinal increscent and decrescent categories (Table 5). The results indicated that there were differences between the groups, with asymptotic signiﬁcance (two-sided test) equal to 0.000 and, therefore, hypothesis 1 was accepted. Table 5. PMVA independent-samples Jonckheere–Terpstra test for ordered alternatives summary. Total n 645 Test Statistic 101,580.500 Standard Error 2285.779 Standardized Test Statistic 21.516 Asymptotic Sig. (2-sided test) 0.000 Then, it was possible to perform the pairwise comparison (Table 6) and the construction of the error bar graphs (Figure 3), in which all the three classiﬁcations are statistically different. The non-qualiﬁed municipalities present the lowest values in the Sustainable Human Development Index, the qualiﬁed municipalities present intermediate values, and the certiﬁed municipalities present the highest values of the index. It is noticeable that the mean values of the non-qualiﬁed municipalities are much lower than the mean values of the qualiﬁed and certiﬁed municipalities. Table 6. Pairwise comparisons of the PMVA classiﬁcation. Sample 1 vs. Sample 2 Statistical Test Std. Error Std. Test Statistic Sig. Adj. Sig. Non-qualiﬁed vs. Qualiﬁed 50,313.000 1545.184 15.704 0.000 0.000 Non-qualiﬁed vs. Certiﬁed 40,760.000 1337.886 15.146 0.000 0.000 Qualiﬁed vs. Certiﬁed 10,507.500 462.302 10.062 0.000 0.000 Each line tests the null hypothesis that the distributions of the Sample 1 and Sample 2 are the same. Asymptotic signiﬁcance (1-sided tests) is displayed. The signiﬁcance level is 0.050. The signiﬁcance values were adjusted with Bonferroni correction for multiple tests. Infrastructures 2022, 7, x FOR PEER REVIEW 14 of 26 Table 6. Pairwise comparisons of the PMVA classification. Std. Test Adj. Sample 1 vs. Sample 2 Statistical Test Std. Error Sig. Statistic Sig. Non-qualified vs. Qualified 50,313.000 1545.184 15.704 0.000 0.000 Non-qualified vs. Certified 40,760.000 1337.886 15.146 0.000 0.000 Qualified vs. Certified 10,507.500 462.302 10.062 0.000 0.000 Each line tests the null hypothesis that the distributions of the Sample 1 and Sample 2 are the same. Asymptotic significance (1-sided tests) is displayed. The significance level is 0.050. The significance values were adjusted with Bonferroni correction for multiple tests. Another important aspect regarding this analysis is that the municipalities in the Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 13 of 24 same group present a very low variation between them, especially the certified munici- palities (Figure 3). Figure 3. Error bar graph of the municipalities by classification of the PMVA. Figure 3. Error bar graph of the municipalities by classiﬁcation of the PMVA. Regarding the classification of the PMVA, the following maps were developed in or- Another important aspect regarding this analysis is that the municipalities in the same der to illustrate the scenario of each group. To accomplish this, we created three stratifi- group present a very low variation between them, especially the certiﬁed municipalities cation levels, with the values in the Sustainable Human Development Index ranging from (Figure 3). 0.00 to 0.44, 0.44 to 0.72, and 0.72 to 1.00. The first map shows the municipality in the lower Regarding the classiﬁcation of the PMVA, the following maps were developed in order stratification (Figure 4). Only non-qualified municipalities appear in this context. to illustrate the scenario of each group. To accomplish this, we created three stratiﬁcation levels, with the values in the Sustainable Human Development Index ranging from 0.00 to 0.44, 0.44 to 0.72, and 0.72 to 1.00. The ﬁrst map shows the municipality in the lower stratiﬁcation (Figure 4). Only non-qualiﬁed municipalities appear in this context. However, not all municipalities in the non-qualiﬁed group follow this trend. Po- rangaba is an interesting case in this group: the municipality has an EAI score of 31.79 in the PMVA and a value of 0.971 in the Sustainable Human Development Index (17th position), in such a way that Porangaba is the most highly ranked non-qualiﬁed munic- ipality in the index. Porongaba features in the group of municipalities with a low level of HDIm (0.703), other municipalities in a similar condition are: Sete Barras (EAI score of 21.35 and HDIm score of 0.673) and Itobi (EAI score of 35.6 HDIm score of 0.717), with a value of 0.940 (74th position) and 0.934 (79th position), respectively, in the Sustainable Human Development Index. Since these municipalities present this peculiar feature, they can be used as benchmarks for municipalities in a similar situation, and future studies should analyze these municipalities more deeply in order to understand the reasons for their performance. The best positions in the ranking are of the certiﬁed municipalities, followed by the qualiﬁed ones. However, some non-qualiﬁed municipalities also ﬁgure in the highest levels. Figure 5 illustrates all municipalities that have the highest stratiﬁcation value of the Sustainable Human Development Index. Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 14 of 24 Infrastructures 2022, 7, x FOR PEER REVIEW 15 of 26 Infrastructures 2022, 7, x FOR PEER REVIEW 16 of 26 Figure 4. Municipalities in the lower part of the stratification. Figure 4. Municipalities in the lower part of the stratiﬁcation. However, not all municipalities in the non-qualified group follow this trend. Porangaba is an interesting case in this group: the municipality has an EAI score of 31.79 in the PMVA and a value of 0.971 in the Sustainable Human Development Index (17th position), in such a way that Porangaba is the most highly ranked non-qualified munici- pality in the index. Porongaba features in the group of municipalities with a low level of HDIm (0.703), other municipalities in a similar condition are: Sete Barras (EAI score of 21.35 and HDIm score of 0.673) and Itobi (EAI score of 35.6 HDIm score of 0.717), with a value of 0.940 (74th position) and 0.934 (79th position), respectively, in the Sustainable Human Development Index. Since these municipalities present this peculiar feature, they can be used as benchmarks for municipalities in a similar situation, and future studies should analyze these municipalities more deeply in order to understand the reasons for their performance. The best positions in the ranking are of the certified municipalities, followed by the qualified ones. However, some non-qualified municipalities also figure in the highest lev- els. Figure 5 illustrates all municipalities that have the highest stratification value of the Sustainable Human Development Index. Figure 5. Municipalities in the highest stratification of the Sustainable Human Development Index. Figure 5. Municipalities in the highest stratiﬁcation of the Sustainable Human Development Index. Regarding the intermediate stratification of the index, Figure 6 presents how there Regarding the intermediate stratiﬁcation of the index, Figure 6 presents how there are are relatively few municipalities in this level, with a balance between the non-qualified relatively few municipalities in this level, with a balance between the non-qualiﬁed and and qualified municipalities. It is also noticeable that there are no certified municipalities qualiﬁed municipalities. It is also noticeable that there are no certiﬁed municipalities in in this scenario. this scenario. Figure 6. Municipalities in the intermediate range of the Sustainable Human Development Index. In this way, all the certified municipalities present results in the highest level of the index, while the qualified municipalities are located in the intermediate and high levels, Infrastructures 2022, 7, x FOR PEER REVIEW 16 of 26 Figure 5. Municipalities in the highest stratification of the Sustainable Human Development Index. Regarding the intermediate stratification of the index, Figure 6 presents how there are relatively few municipalities in this level, with a balance between the non-qualified Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 15 of 24 and qualified municipalities. It is also noticeable that there are no certified municipalities in this scenario. Figure 6. Municipalities in the intermediate range of the Sustainable Human Development Index. Figure 6. Municipalities in the intermediate range of the Sustainable Human Development Index. Infrastructures 2022, 7, x FOR PEER REVIEW 17 of 26 In this way, all the certified municipalities present results in the highest level of the In this way, all the certiﬁed municipalities present results in the highest level of the index, while the qualified municipalities are located in the intermediate and high levels, index, while the qualiﬁed municipalities are located in the intermediate and high levels, and the non-qualiﬁed municipalities have representatives in all levels of the index, with a and the non-qualified municipalities have representatives in all levels of the index, with a higher number of municipalities in the lowest level (Figure 7). higher number of municipalities in the lowest level (Figure 7). Figure 7. Sustainable Human Development Index. Figure 7. Sustainable Human Development Index. Considering the geographical distribution of the municipalities in the index, the cen- tral and southeast regions of the state concentrate the municipalities with the highest val- ues of the Sustainable Human Development Index. The west and northwest regions, on the other hand, present the highest concentration of municipalities with the lowest values in the index (Figure 7). Considering the two biggest metropolitan areas of São Paulo, it is interesting to note that from the 39 municipalities that comprise the São Paulo metropoli- tan area, only eight (21.51%) municipalities (Barueri, Guararema, Itaquaquecetuba, Mogi das Cruzes, Osasco, Santana de Parnaíba, São Paulo, and Suzano) are above the value of 0.72 in the developed index, and only Guararema, Mogi das Cruzes, and Osasco are cer- tified by the PMVA. In the Campinas metropolitan area, on the other hand, from the 20 municipalities that comprise it, 12 (66.67%) municipalities (Americana, Campinas, Cos- mópolis, Holambra, Hortolândia, Indaiatuba, Itatiba, Jaguariú na, Nova Odessa, Santa Bá- rbara d’Oeste, Santo Antônio de Posse, and Vinhedo) present values higher than 0.72 in the index, and only three of them are not certified, but qualified by the PMVA (Cosmópo- lis, Hortolândia, and Santo Antônio de Posse). 4.2.2. HDIm Analyses Regarding the HDIm classification, the created groups are: low, medium, and high. The results of the Jonckheere–Terpstra test (Table 7) indicated that there were differences between the groups, with asymptotic significance (two-sided test) equal to 0.000 and, therefore, hypothesis 2 was accepted. Table 7. HDIm independent-samples Jonckheere–Terpstra test for ordered alternatives summary. Total n 645 Test Statistic 80,188.000 Standard Error 2568.902 Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 16 of 24 Considering the geographical distribution of the municipalities in the index, the central and southeast regions of the state concentrate the municipalities with the highest values of the Sustainable Human Development Index. The west and northwest regions, on the other hand, present the highest concentration of municipalities with the lowest values in the index (Figure 7). Considering the two biggest metropolitan areas of São Paulo, it is interesting to note that from the 39 municipalities that comprise the São Paulo metropolitan area, only eight (21.51%) municipalities (Barueri, Guararema, Itaquaquecetuba, Mogi das Cruzes, Osasco, Santana de Parnaíba, São Paulo, and Suzano) are above the value of 0.72 in the developed index, and only Guararema, Mogi das Cruzes, and Osasco are certiﬁed by the PMVA. In the Campinas metropolitan area, on the other hand, from the 20 municipalities that comprise it, 12 (66.67%) municipalities (Americana, Campinas, Cosmópolis, Holambra, Hortolândia, Indaiatuba, Itatiba, Jaguariúna, Nova Odessa, Santa Bárbara d’Oeste, Santo Antônio de Posse, and Vinhedo) present values higher than 0.72 in the index, and only three of them are not certiﬁed, but qualiﬁed by the PMVA (Cosmópolis, Hortolândia, and Santo Antônio de Posse). 4.2.2. HDIm Analyses Regarding the HDIm classiﬁcation, the created groups are: low, medium, and high. The results of the Jonckheere–Terpstra test (Table 7) indicated that there were differences between the groups, with asymptotic signiﬁcance (two-sided test) equal to 0.000 and, therefore, hypothesis 2 was accepted. Table 7. HDIm independent-samples Jonckheere–Terpstra test for ordered alternatives summary. Total n 645 Test Statistic 80,188.000 Standard Error 2568.902 Standardized Test Statistic 4.224 Asymptotic Sig. (2-sided test) 0.000 In this way, the pairwise comparison represented in Table 8 demonstrates that the municipalities in the high HDIm group are different from the other HDIm groups. This indicates that when categorizing the municipalities according to their human develop- ment, municipalities that achieve a higher HDIm (above 0.753) ensure a certain level of environmental justice when compared to other municipalities. In this way, there might be a threshold point where a certain level of HDIm matches with better results in the proposed index, in such a way that the municipality may have surpassed basic barriers to development, such as low levels of education and health. Table 8. Pairwise comparisons of Human_Development_Classiﬁcation. Sample 1 vs. Sample 2 Statistical Test Std. Error Std. Test Statistic Sig. Adj. Sig. Medium HDIm vs. Low HDIm 21,228.500 1282.327 1.385 0.083 0.0249 Medium HDIm vs. High HDIm 29,978.500 1284.158 5.347 0.000 0.000 Low HDIm vs. High HDIm 28,981.000 1287.089 4.476 0.000 0.000 Each line tests the null hypothesis that the distributions of Sample 1 and Sample 2 are the same. Asymptotic signiﬁcance (1-sided tests) is displayed. The signiﬁcance level is 0.050. The signiﬁcance values were adjusted with Bonferroni correction for multiple tests. The literature [18,21,65] presents cases of this threshold point of development for environmental performance in some countries, which may occur due to the level of priority given to different areas. Economic growth and political and social stabilization, for example, are usually preferred over environmental aspects. Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 17 of 24 The error bar graph (Figure 8) illustrates the difference between the performance of the municipalities when categorized for their human development. From the graph, it is possible to notice that there is a growing tendency toward the performance in the Sustainable Human Development Index from the increase in the human development of the municipality. It is also interesting to note that the differences between the mean values of the municipalities in the same group are higher than in the case of the groups from the Infrastructures 2022, 7, x FOR PEER REVIEW 19 of 26 PMVA classiﬁcation (Figure 3). Municipalities in the same HDIm group presented scattered values related to the index. Figure 8. Error bar graph of the municipalities by classification of the HDIm. Figure 8. Error bar graph of the municipalities by classiﬁcation of the HDIm. Similar to some municipalities with a low level in the HDIm, as already mentioned, Similar to some municipalities with a low level in the HDIm, as already mentioned, that that presented good results in the Sustainable Human Development Index, other munici- presented good results in the Sustainable Human Development Index, other municipalities palities with high HDIm presented relatively low values in the index, such as São Caetano with high HDIm presented relatively low values in the index, such as São Caetano do Sul do Sul and Á guas de São Pedro, which are the two municipalities with the highest HDIm and Águas de São Pedro, which are the two municipalities with the highest HDIm in São in São Paulo, of 0.862 and 0.854, respectively, but that are only classified as non-qualified Paulo, of 0.862 and 0.854, respectively, but that are only classiﬁed as non-qualiﬁed in the in the PMVA (37.11 EAI and 11.00 EAI, respectively). This resulted in low values in the PMVA (37.11 EAI and 11.00 EAI, respectively). This resulted in low values in the proposed proposed index: 0.679 (231st position) and 0.225 (574th position), respectively. index: 0.679 (231st position) and 0.225 (574th position), respectively. Municipalities Municipalities that that pr present esent good good r re esults sults in in the the index index with with low low HDIm HDIm may may b be e useful useful benchmarks for municipalities in a similar condition, and they can also be better analyzed benchmarks for municipalities in a similar condition, and they can also be better analyzed by by the the PMV PMVA A.. Special Special attention attention should should be be given given to to these these municipaliti municipalities es with with high high HDIm HDIm but but low low performance performance in in the the index, index, in in or ord der er to to understand understand the the rea reasons sons for for th the e perfo performance rmance, , for for example, example,if if itit is is due due to to lack lack ofointer f intere estsin t in the thpr e pro ogram gram or or another anothe speciﬁc r specifi dif c ﬁculty difficulin tyits in implementation. its implementation. 4.2.3. Urbanization Analyses 4.2.3. Urbanization Analyses Considering the urbanization degree, the created groups are: rural, intermediate, Considering the urbanization degree, the created groups are: rural, intermediate, and and urban. The results of the Jonckheere–Terpstra test (Table 9) indicated that there were urban. The results of the Jonckheere–Terpstra test (Table 9) indicated that there were dif- differences between the groups, with asymptotic signiﬁcance (two-sided test) equal to 0.000 ferences between the groups, with asymptotic significance (two-sided test) equal to 0.000 and, therefore, hypothesis 3 was accepted. and, therefore, hypothesis 3 was accepted. Table 9. Urbanization degree independent-samples Jonckheere–Terpstra test for ordered alterna- tives summary. Total n 645 Test Statistic 71,630.000 Standard Error 2434.793 Standardized Test Statistic 5.208 Asymptotic Sig. (2-sided test) 0.000 In this way, the pairwise comparison represented in Table 10 demonstrates that ur- ban municipalities are different from the other groups. Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 18 of 24 Table 9. Urbanization degree independent-samples Jonckheere–Terpstra test for ordered alternatives summary. Total n 645 Test Statistic 71,630.000 Standard Error 2434.793 Standardized Test Statistic 5.208 Asymptotic Sig. (2-sided test) 0.000 In this way, the pairwise comparison represented in Table 10 demonstrates that urban municipalities are different from the other groups. Infrastructures 2022, 7, x FOR PEER REVIEW 20 of 26 Table 10. Pairwise comparisons of urbanization degree. Table 10. Pairwise comparisons of urbanization degree. Sample 1 vs. Sample 2 Statistical Test Std. Error Std. Test Statistic Sig. Adj. Sig. Std. Test Sta- Adj. Sample 1 vs. Sample 2 Statistical Test Std. Error Sig. Intermediate vs. Rural 6665.000 600.509 0.891 0.186 0.559 tistic Sig. Intermediate vs. Urban 52,418.000 2010.023 5.482 0.000 0.000 Intermediate vs. Rural 6665.000 600.509 −0.891 0.186 0.559 Rural vs. Urban 12,547.000 836.602 2.626 0.004 0.013 Intermediate vs. Urban 52,418.000 2010.023 5.482 0.000 0.000 Each line tests the null hypothesis that the distributions of Sample 1 and Sample 2 are the same. Asymptotic Rural vs. Urban 12,547.000 836.602 2.626 0.004 0.013 signiﬁcance (1-sided tests) is displayed. The signiﬁcance level is 0.050. The signiﬁcance values were adjusted Each line tests the null hypothesis that the distributions of Sample 1 and Sample 2 are the same. with Bonferroni correction for multiple tests. Asymptotic significance (1-sided tests) is displayed. The significance level is 0.050. The significance values were adjusted with Bonferroni correction for multiple tests. Considering the urbanization degree of the municipalities, it is noticeable that the ones considered urban have a better performance in the Sustainable Human Development Considering the urbanization degree of the municipalities, it is noticeable that the Index, while the municipalities considered rural or intermediate did not present statistical ones considered urban have a better performance in the Sustainable Human Development differ Ind ences ex, whbetween ile the mun them icipali (Figur ties con e si 9d ).ere This d rural result or inte could rmedi be ate related did notto present the dif statistic ferental sets of differences between them (Figure 9). This result could be related to the different sets of opportunities and access to basic infrastructures that the urbanization process offers for opportunities and access to basic infrastructures that the urbanization process offers for sustainable human development, such as sanitation coverage and easier access to education sustainable human development, such as sanitation coverage and easier access to educa- and health facilities [66]. It is also possible that more urbanized municipalities have tion and health facilities [66]. It is also possible that more urbanized municipalities have more infrastructural and technical capacities to develop more municipal environmental more infrastructural and technical capacities to develop more municipal environmental management actions. management actions. Figure 9. Error bar graph of the municipalities by urbanization degree. Figure 9. Error bar graph of the municipalities by urbanization degree. Considering the classification of the municipality in the PMVA with its degree of urbanization, it is noticeable that municipalities with certification present similar values among the three degrees of urbanization. Regarding the qualified municipalities, the in- termediate and urban municipalities present similar values, while the disproportion pre- sented by the rural municipalities is due to the small sample of municipalities with this combination of features. An interesting aspect is that there is a difference among the non- qualified municipalities, as the rural ones have better performance in the index compared to non-qualified intermediate and urban municipalities (Figure 10). Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 19 of 24 Considering the classiﬁcation of the municipality in the PMVA with its degree of urbanization, it is noticeable that municipalities with certiﬁcation present similar values among the three degrees of urbanization. Regarding the qualiﬁed municipalities, the intermediate and urban municipalities present similar values, while the disproportion presented by the rural municipalities is due to the small sample of municipalities with this combination of features. An interesting aspect is that there is a difference among the non-qualiﬁed municipalities, as the rural ones have better performance in the index compared to non-qualiﬁed intermediate and urban municipalities (Figure 10). Figure 10. Error bar graph of the municipalities by degree of urbanization and classiﬁcation of the PMVA. 4.2.4. Sectoral Economic Participation Analyses Considering the sectoral economic participation, the created groups are: agriculture, industrial, and services. These results of the Jonckheere–Terpstra test (Table 11) indicated that there were differences between the groups, with asymptotic signiﬁcance (two-sided test) equal to 0.001 and, therefore, hypothesis 4 was accepted. Table 11. Sectoral participation in the economy independent-samples Jonckheere–Terpstra test for ordered alternatives summary. Total n 645 Test Statistic 44,118.500 Standard Error 1958.866 Standardized Test Statistic 3.390 Asymptotic Sig. (2-sided test) 0.001 In this way, the pairwise comparison represented in Table 12 demonstrates that mu- nicipalities with higher participation of services in the economy are different from the other groups. Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 20 of 24 Table 12. Pairwise comparisons of sectoral economic participation. Sample 1 vs. Sample 2 Statistical Test Std. Error Std. Test Statistic Sig. Adj. Sig. Industrial vs. Agriculture 2278.500 231.965 0.136 0.446 1.000 Industrial vs. Service 16,589.500 1141.216 2.344 0.010 0.029 Agriculture vs. Service 25,250.500 1446.306 2.765 0.003 0.019 Each line tests the null hypothesis that the distributions of Sample 1 and Sample 2 are the same. Asymptotic Infrastructures 2022, 7, x FOR PEER REVIEW 22 of 26 signiﬁcance (1-sided tests) is displayed. The signiﬁcance level is 0.050. The signiﬁcance values were adjusted with Bonferroni correction for multiple tests. Considering the main economic activity in each municipality, those that present Considering the main economic activity in each municipality, those that present higher participation of services in their economy presented better results in the Sustainable higher participation of services in their economy presented better results in the Sustaina- Human Development Index than the others. There were no statistical differences between ble Human Development Index than the others. There were no statistical differences be- municipalities with higher participation in agriculture and industry (Figure 11). These tween municipalities with higher participation in agriculture and industry (Figure 11). results could be related to the importance that the service sector may have in increasing These results could be related to the importance that the service sector may have in in- economic growth, reducing poverty, and supporting job creation—including higher rates creasing economic growth, reducing poverty, and supporting job creation—including of women’s employment [67]. higher rates of women’s employment [67]. Figure 11. Error bar graph of the municipalities by sectoral economic participation. Figure 11. Error bar graph of the municipalities by sectoral economic participation. 5. Conclusions 5. Conclusions This research presented the development of a sustainable human development index This research presented the development of a sustainable human development index at a local level that portrays the idea presented in the research framework (Figure 1), at a local level that portrays the idea presented in the research framework (Figure 1), that that is, human development and municipal environmental management have a cyclical is, human development and municipal environmental management have a cyclical rela- relationship. In this research, the index was developed using data from the HDIm and the tionship. In this research, the index was developed using data from the HDIm and the PMVA, which are suitable for the Brazilian context. Other countries and regions can use the PMVA, which are suitable for the Brazilian context. Other countries and regions can use same method with speciﬁc data to cover human development and municipal environmental the same method with specific data to cover human development and municipal environ- management—sustainable action—to develop an index suitable for their context. mental management—sustainable action—to develop an index suitable for their context. The results found in this research indicate that municipalities with higher HDI levels The results found in this research indicate that municipalities with higher HDI levels obtained better results in the Sustainable Human Development Index. This may have obtained better results in the Sustainable Human Development Index. This may have oc- occurred because the municipalities have reached a basic development level, from which curred because the municipalities have reached a basic development level, from which more investments began to be made in the environmental area, such as in infrastructure. more investments began to be made in the environmental area, such as in infrastructure. The results also indicate that more urbanized municipalities and with higher participation The results also indicate that more urbanized municipalities and with higher participation of services in the economy presented a better performance in the index, which may be due to opportunities derived from urbanization and the higher maturity level required for a service economy. It is important to highlight that these considerations are related to the environmental aspects considered in this research, and other environmental elements need to be carefully analyzed; Polloni-Silva et al. [68], for example, found that the service sector is related to considerable CO2 emissions in São Paulo. In the results, we also identified differences between the three levels of classification in the PMVA, where certified municipalities tend to show better results than qualified and non-qualified ones. Future studies can analyze whether the fact that a municipality Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 21 of 24 of services in the economy presented a better performance in the index, which may be due to opportunities derived from urbanization and the higher maturity level required for a service economy. It is important to highlight that these considerations are related to the environmental aspects considered in this research, and other environmental elements need to be carefully analyzed; Polloni-Silva et al. [68], for example, found that the service sector is related to considerable CO emissions in São Paulo. In the results, we also identiﬁed differences between the three levels of classiﬁcation in the PMVA, where certiﬁed municipalities tend to show better results than qualiﬁed and non-qualiﬁed ones. Future studies can analyze whether the fact that a municipality obtains a good sustainability index (or PMVA certiﬁcation) provides some positive effect on neighboring municipalities. For environmental justice, when considering that the PMVA certiﬁcation depends on the score achieved by the municipalities, and that this achievement results in the preference for obtaining resources from the state Secretary of the Environment, it is important to understand if the municipalities that do not achieve this score are not interested in the program or if they do not have sufﬁcient resources to do so. The results of the proposed index indicate that municipalities with high HDIm have the best performances, that is, the municipalities with better levels of human development would receive more resources to improve their environmental performance. Meanehile, the municipalities with fewer resources and lower HDIm—which most need these resources [61]—would continue to face difﬁculties to develop environmentally and, consequently, improve their HDIm. The PMVA is an important initiative of the state of São Paulo, unique in Brazil, however, there is still space and opportunity for improvement. The program itself has undergone constant improvement processes. Thus, it is expected that this research can also contribute to the development of the program and others that may arise in other Brazilian states and in other countries. Therefore, it is believed that the contributions of this research are important from an academic and practical point of view. Another positive point is the incorporation of the environmental justice aspect, since, as indicated by Agyeman, Bullard, and Evans [28], many sustainability policies are implemented without incorporating this aspect. Some limitations of this study are expected to open multiple avenues for future research. First, we proceeded with an empirical analysis by using secondary data. However, this study did not present a detailed analysis of case studies. In this sense, future research might incorporate some relevant case studies to explain the rank position of our indicator. Second, we did not explain the determinants of DEA scores, which is relevant to reveal how regions might increase sustainable human development. Future studies might use econometric models to understand which variables explain DEA scores. Third, we did not use ﬁnancial resources as inputs in our analysis, which did not consider aspects of social and eco-efﬁciency. New studies can investigate new DEA rankings considering ﬁnancial aspects to sustainable human development. Fourth, we considered regions in São Paulo. However, Brazil is a vast and heterogeneous country that allocates important areas for the environment (i.e., Amazonia). For this reason, we encourage future studies to apply our indicator to the whole Brazilian territory. Finally, it is important to highlight the voluntary nature of the PMVA, so that all munic- ipalities that obtained low values in the index do not necessarily present low sustainability aspects. However, this does not inﬂuence the proposal of the index combining human development and environmental management at the municipality level. Moreover, these results can support the improvement of this type of environmental management program, aiming to increase the participation of the municipalities and consequently their levels of sustainability. Supplementary Materials: The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https: //www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/infrastructures7020012/s1, Table S1: Complete ranking of the Sustainable Human Development Index. Infrastructures 2022, 7, 12 22 of 24 Author Contributions: Conceptualization, P.A.B.L., G.D.P.J. and M.F.; methodology, P.A.B.L., G.D.P.J., M.F. and E.B.M.; software, M.F.; validation, R.A.G.B., G.H.R.S., D.F. and E.B.M.; formal analysis, P.A.B.L., G.D.P.J., T.L.S. and M.F.; writing—original draft preparation, P.A.B.L. and G.D.P.J.; supervi- sion, E.B.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Funding: The APC was funded by PROAP/CAPES via PROPG/UNESP. Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable. Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable. Data Availability Statement: Not applicable. Conﬂicts of Interest: The authors declare no conﬂict of interest. 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Infrastructures – Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute

Published: Jan 21, 2022

Keywords: human development; sustainability; environmental program; environmental management; data envelopment analysis (DEA); index; infrastructure; urban management

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Sustainable Human Development at the Municipal Level: A Data Envelopment Analysis Index

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Sustainable Human Development at the Municipal Level: A Data Envelopment Analysis Index

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