| 1. |
- Bastos Lima, Mairon G., 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Commodity-Centric Landscape Governance as a Double-Edged Sword: The Case of Soy and the Cerrado Working Group in Brazil
- 2020
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Forests and Global Change. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 2624-893X. ; 3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Persistent ecological and socio-economic impacts from the expansion of industrial monocultures in the tropics have raised land use sustainability to the top of the environmental policy agenda. As major crops such as soy continue to experience growing market demand and threaten both natural ecosystems and traditional populations, a number of multi-stakeholder governance initiatives have been established around agricultural commodity chains or key landscapes. Effectiveness in curbing unsustainable land use, however, remains limited. In this context, innovative initiatives have blurred the lines to combine both supply chain and landscape governance. We analyze such arrangements-here conceptualized as commodity-centric landscape governance (CCLG)-with an in-depth case study of the Cerrado Working Group, a multi-stakeholder initiative led by civil society and the soy agribusiness to address land use change in that savanna landscape in Brazil. The paper examines how that initiative has come about, its agenda, as well as usually underexposed political dimensions using agenda-setting theory. The research is based on extensive fieldwork in Brazil, with data collected through document analysis and 56 key-informant interviews. The findings suggest that a sustainable development agenda for the Cerrado has been substantially narrowed to become mostly one of conversion-free soy supply, serving more the interests of that agroindustry and its consumers than those of the landscape's most vulnerable stakeholders, such as local communities. While the Cerrado Working Group has importantly broadened the policy scope beyond commodity certification, its limited inclusiveness and a skewed agenda have led to instruments that target only soy farmers as beneficiaries. We conclude that, although effective for targeting conversion drivers, CCLG can crystallize and reinforce existing land use patterns by granting disproportionate power to dominant stakeholders, thus limiting the agenda to incremental changes. As a consequence, distant demand-side actors may exert greater governance authority than the landscape's own population. If embodying norms of inclusiveness and equitable participation, CCLG may serve as an entry point, but it does not per se replace inclusive land-use planning and integrated landscape governance.
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| 2. |
- Bastos Lima, Mairon G., 1984
(författare)
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Corporate power in the bioeconomy transition: The policies and politics of conservative ecological modernization in Brazil
- 2021
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 13:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The bioeconomy transition is a double-edged sword that may either address fossil fuel dependence sustainably or aggravate human pressures on the environment, depending on how it is pursued. Using the emblematic case of Brazil, this article analyzes how corporate agribusiness dominance limits the bioeconomy agenda, shapes innovation pathways, and ultimately threatens the sustainability of this transition. Drawing from scholarship on power in agri-food governance and sustainability transitions, an analytical framework is then applied to the Brazilian case. The analysis of current policies, recent institutional changes and the case-specific literature reveals that, despite a strategic framing of the bioeconomy transition as a panacea for job creation, biodiversity conservation and local development (particularly for the Amazon region), in practice major soy, sugarcane and meatpacking conglomerates dominate Brazil’s bioeconomy agenda. In what can be described as conservative ecological modernization, there is some reflexivity regarding environmental issues but also an effort to maintain (unequal) social and political structures. Significant agribusiness dominance does not bode well for smallholder farmers, food diversity or natural ecosystems, as major drivers of deforestation and land-use change (e.g., soy plantations, cattle ranching) gain renewed economic and political stimulus as well as greater societal legitimacy under the bioeconomy umbrella.
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| 3. |
- Bastos Lima, Mairon G., 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Leakage and boosting effects in environmental governance: a framework for analysis
- 2019
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Ingår i: Environmental Research Letters. - : IOP Publishing. - 1748-9318 .- 1748-9326. ; 14:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In an increasingly interconnected world, leakage-broadly understood as unintended displacement of impacts caused by an environmental policy intervention-has become a major governance concern. Yet, leakage remains both loosely conceptualized and poorly understood as a phenomenon in policy making. To fill this gap and broaden the leakage research agenda, we conduct a state-of-the-art review of scientific assessments on leakage (particularly on land use) and combine it with conceptual and analytical frameworks from the environmental governance literature. We then propose a rigorous definition of leakage, discuss frequently overlooked political dimensions, and develop a typology of leakage pathways. Our analysis of leakage through a governance lens yields five core insights: (1) Leakage is not simply a mechanistic phenomenon, but a complex governance issue involving questions of institutional fit, interactions, and political agency. (2) Although the land use literature traditionally focuses on leakage through markets or activity displacement, a governance lens shows that it also occurs through information, motivation, or institutional channels. (3) As policy-makers may act strategically, the unintentionally of leakage should not be assumed but rather become an object of research. (4) A phenomenon not initially regarded as leakage can come to be framed as such through the action of 'problem brokers' and changes in policy fields. (5) Policy-makers and researchers should broaden their focus from only avoiding leakage to seeking positive spillovers and institutional synergies. These insights are illustrated with examples from two cases relating to land use policy in Brazil and Southeast Asia.
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| 4. |
- Bastos Lima, Mairon G., 1984
(författare)
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Toward multipurpose agriculture: Food, fuels, flex crops, and prospects for a bioeconomy
- 2018
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Ingår i: Global Environmental Politics. - : MIT Press - Journals. - 1526-3800 .- 1536-0091. ; 18:2, s. 143-150
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Each day, agriculture becomes more highly integrated into an increasing number of industries. Agriculture has never been only about food; cotton, tobacco, and other nonfood agricultural commodities (not to speak of spices and luxury foods, such as sugar and coffee) have for centuries been important to livelihoods and the economy. Yet, thanks to developments in biotechnology, the scope of agriculture is broadening quickly, and it may expand significantly in the coming years.
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| 5. |
- Ivanova, Antonina, et al.
(författare)
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Climate mitigation policies and actions: access and allocation issues
- 2020
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Ingår i: International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1573-1553 .- 1567-9764. ; 20:2, s. 287-301
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As part of the Special Issue on Access and Allocation, this paper explores how reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide raises a number of access and allocation issues and identifies the possible solutions to the existing problems. The access elements include the right to development and basic needs satisfaction and the allocation issues include distribution of resources, risks and burdens and the assignment of responsibilities. The development pathways for many developing countries will be constrained by national level GHG emission reduction commitments as well as sub-national efforts. Yet, the current level of commitments is not sufficient to keep global temperature increase below 1.5 °C. Hence, an important question is what does a decadal review of the relevant literature tell us about how to conceptualize and define access and allocation in the area of climate change mitigation governance? The paper concludes that access and allocation issues of climate change mitigation are inextricably interlinked; calling for holistic
strategies for mitigating environmental impacts while addressing social problems. The access issues can be governed through market mechanisms, in combination with an equity and justice approach for the poorest communities, and technology and social innovation, while allocation issues are governed by public policies, institutions, bottom–up decision making, mainstreaming of climate policies and international cooperation. The main characteristics of developing countries have not been adequately incorporated in present-day mitigation models. Further multidisciplinary research is needed to foster efficient and equitable climate, energy and forest governance which should be consistent with sustainable, inclusive and low carbon development pathways.
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| 6. |
- Russo Lopes, Gabriela, et al.
(författare)
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Maldevelopment revisited: Inclusiveness and social impacts of soy expansion over Brazil's Cerrado in Matopiba
- 2021
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Ingår i: World Development. - : Elsevier BV. - 0305-750X .- 1873-5991. ; 139
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cash crops such as soy, cocoa and oil palm have expanded at great speed in developing countries, often at the expense of customary landowners, traditional livelihoods, and biodiversity. These landscape transformations have global drivers, but they are often justified by a dominant rationale that they bring development to otherwise underprivileged regions. Such development claims, however, are either taken at face value or conflated with simplistic macroeconomic indicators that gloss over most social issues. Those claims may, therefore, hide severe inequities. To better analyze these phenomena, we revisit and conceptualize the notion of maldevelopment, here defined as inequitable and exclusive processes of change that deprive most local stakeholders of their social and material capabilities. Using an inclusiveness framework, we then conduct an in-depth analysis of soy expansion in the Matopiba region of Brazil's Cerrado. This rich biome with a mosaic of land uses forms an agriculture-savanna landscape that is rapidly giving way to soy monoculture – under the guise of development. Through fieldwork and primary data collection in 18 Matopiba municipalities, we have interviewed 62 stakeholders in that landscape transformation from different social groups. We assess how soy expansion has altered access and allocation patterns of key resources such as land and water, as well as participation in the local food systems and governance initiatives. When looking beyond general economic indicators, our findings expose a brutally exclusive process of environmental degradation and resource dispossession. Yet the stakeholders we interviewed do not want to simply be left undisturbed but to experience inclusive development instead, with participation in governance and support for bottom-up initiatives. We conclude that the frequently cited claim that industrial monocultures bring development to underserved regions deserves far greater scrutiny, and that inclusiveness in the design and execution of interventions is crucial for avoiding maldevelopment.
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| 7. |
- Russo Lopes, Gabriela, et al.
(författare)
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Necropolitics in the Jungle: COVID-19 and the Marginalisation of Brazil's Forest Peoples
- 2020
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Ingår i: Bulletin of Latin American Research. - : Wiley. - 1470-9856 .- 0261-3050. ; 39:S1, s. 92-97
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- COVID-19 has been particularly damaging to already vulnerable social groups, such as forest peoples. In Brazil, indigenous, Afro-Brazilian quilombolas and other racialised communities have suffered disproportionately under Bolsonaro's hands-off policy during the pandemic. We argue that, far from happenstance, this policy fits into a form of necropolitics towards forest peoples. Drawing from Achille Mbembe's seminal work, this article analyses how underlying (and sometimes overt) racism, cultural depredation, and government-supported deforestation constitute an assault now catalysed by the pandemic. Understanding forest peoples' disproportionate deaths in perspective is critical for addressing their growing vulnerability and the broader politics currently at play.
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| 8. |
- Siegel, Karen M., et al.
(författare)
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When international sustainability frameworks encounter domestic politics: The sustainable development goals and agri-food governance in South America
- 2020
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Ingår i: World Development. - : Elsevier BV. - 0305-750X .- 1873-5991. ; 135
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been heralded as a landmark achievement and a major opportunity for transformative and inclusive change towards sustainability. This promise, however, remains largely unverified. To help fill this gap, we examine how the SDGs have been taken up in the domestic politics of agri-food governance – a salient and contested policy area – in three South American countries: Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Our empirical assessment is based on a scoping of the institutions set up for domestic SDG governance, document analysis of the first voluntary national reviews on the SDGs, and 63 key-informant interviews. The analysis shows that the ability of the SDGs to strengthen inclusiveness is largely shaped by domestic politics, pre-existing institutions and power relations, as well as the resources, capacities and prior experiences of civil society and subnational governments. In practice, the SDGs’ emphasis on inclusion does not necessarily mean that a wider range of perspectives are taken into account in domestic contexts. In Paraguay, the implementation of the SDGs so far mirrors the patterns of marginalization evident also in other policy processes. In Uruguay and Brazil, the SDGs have offered possibilities for at least drawing attention to a variety of perspectives by strengthening the already existing, fairly open political institutions in the case of Uruguay, and by opening up a space for contestation by civil society organizations and subnational governments in the case of Brazil. The SDGs may then be an opportunity for change, but there is also a risk that they become a justification for business as usual. Actors now employ metonymy as a tactic, cherry-picking preferred goals or targets as a sign of supposed adherence to the whole 2030 Agenda. Further research is needed with more ex-post analyses of the SDGs beyond the praising of their nominal transformative potential.
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| 9. |
- Zu Ermgassen, Erasmus K.H.J., et al.
(författare)
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Using supply chain data to monitor zero deforestation commitments: an assessment of progress in the Brazilian soy sector
- 2020
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Ingår i: Environmental Research Letters. - : IOP Publishing. - 1748-9326 .- 1748-9318. ; 15:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Zero deforestation commitments (ZDCs) are voluntary initiatives where companies or countries pledge to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains. These commitments offer much promise for sustainable commodity production, but are undermined by a lack of transparency about their coverage and impacts. Here, using state-of-the-art supply chain data, we introduce an approach to evaluate the impact of ZDCs, linking traders and international markets to commodity-associated deforestation in the sub-national jurisdictions from which they source. We focus on the Brazilian soy sector, where we find that ZDC coverage is increasing, but under-represents the Cerrado biome where most soy-associated deforestation currently takes place. Though soy-associated deforestation declined in the Amazon after the introduction of the Soy Moratorium, we observe no change in the exposure of companies or countries adopting ZDCs to soy-associated deforestation in the Cerrado. We further assess the formulation and implementation of these ZDCs and identify several systematic weaknesses that must be addressed to increase the likelihood that they achieve meaningful reductions in deforestation in future. As the 2020 deadline for several of these commitments approaches, our approach can provide independent monitoring of progress toward the goal of ending commodity-associated deforestation.
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