Factor analysis as a tool for building the sustainable development index of river basins in Rondônia, Western Amazon

Abstract

Objective: to build a sustainable development index for the river basins of Rondônia, using factor analysis as an analytical model. Method: factor analysis was used as a tool for building environmental, economic, social and institutional performance indexes. The classification scale of Hair et al [16] adapted was adopted to express the results achieved by each hydrographic basin. Results: The set of sustainable performance indexes for the river basins of the Mamoré river (0.527) was considered a regular index; the Madeira River (0.388, a bad index); the Guaporé River (0.287, a bad index); the Machado river (0.256, bad index) and the Roosevelt river (0.177, terrible index). In addition, there was a drop in the indexes 10 years after the initial year of the survey, showing that, in terms of sustainable development, there was no improvement in Rondônia in the geographical context of the river basins. Conclusions: the factor analysis demonstrated efficiency as a multivariate statistical method in the construction of sustainable development indexes for the river basins of Rondônia. River basin management is still very ineffective, despite being regulated by state law. It is highly recommended to institutionalize regional public policies in the form of a River Basin Master Plan for Rondônia.