The rotten apples of Brazil's agribusiness

Rajão, Raoni; Soares‐Filho, Britaldo; Nunes, Felipe; Börner, Jan; Machado, Lilian; Assis, Débora Cristina Sampaio de; Oliveira, Amanda Ribeiro de; Pinto, Luís Fernando Guedes; Ribeiro, Vivian; Rausch, Lisa; Gibbs, Holly K.; Figueira, Danilo da Silveira

doi:10.1126/science.aba6646

Cited by 279 publications

(158 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…New land conversion to soybean mainly takes place in the Midwest and northern states (Fig. 1 a), with about 7% of total expansion into high carbon forested lands with resultant high GHG emissions, hence a potential threat to the Amazon forest and Cerrado native vegetation 13 . Yet, the extent to which deforestation is due to pasture displacement as a result of large-scale expansion of soybean remains uncertain given the complexity of iLUC domino effects 19 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The extent to which this is due to pasture displacement as a result of large-scale expansion of soybean onto already cleared areas remains uncertain given the complexity of iLUC domino effects 19 . However, there exists evidence that a share of agricultural commodities employing illegally deforested land is exported from Brazil to the EU market 13 . All of this not only tarnishes the reputation of Brazil’s agribusiness, it also places an additional burden on other countries to mitigate climate change, if Brazil ultimately fails to fulfil its NDC contribution to the Paris agreement 10 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 2019 Brazil unexpectedly revoked the Agro-Ecological Zoning (AEZ) decree for sugarcane that forbade its expansion into the Amazon and other sensitive biomes 12 , thereby reigniting EU concerns regarding the sustainability of Brazil’s sugarcane production. In addition, the controversial dismantling of Brazil’s environmental policies together with the revelation that a large share of EU imports of beef and soy from the country were produced on illegally deforested lands 13 has complicated the ratification process of the EU-Mercosur trade deal 14 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Brazil’s sugarcane embitters the EU-Mercosur trade talks

Follador

Soares‐Filho

Philippidis

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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The Brazilian government’s decision to open the Amazon biome to sugarcane expansion reignited EU concerns regarding the sustainability of Brazil’s sugar sector, hindering the ratification of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement. Meanwhile, in the EU, certain conventional biofuels face stricter controls, whilst uncertainty surrounding the commercialisation of more sustainable advanced-biofuels renders bioethanol as a short- to medium-term fix. This paper examines Brazil’s land-use changes and associated greenhouse gas emissions arising from an EU driven ethanol import policy and projections for other 13 biocommodities. Results suggest that Brazil’s sugarcane could satisfy growing ethanol demand and comply with EU environmental criteria, since almost all sugarcane expansion is expected to occur on long-established pasturelands in the South and Midwest. However, expansion of sugarcane is also driven by competition for viable lands with other relevant commodities, mainly soy and beef. As a result, deforestation trends in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes linked to soy and beef production could jeopardize Brazil’s contribution to the Paris agreement with an additional 1 ± 0.3 billion CO2eq tonnes above its First NDC target by 2030. Trade talks with a narrow focus on a single commodity could thus risk unsustainable outcomes, calling for systemic sustainability benchmarks, should the deal be ratified.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Brazil’s sugarcane embitters the EU-Mercosur trade talks

Follador

Soares‐Filho

Philippidis

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

Self Cite

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“…Again, climate change is not addressed despite research showing that the embedded impacts of globalized production have serious carbon emissions consequences (Hull and Liu 2018 ). A case in point is the greenhouse gas emissions footprint of Brazilian beef exported to the European Union, which almost equals the current carbon mitigation goal of the Bloc (Rajao et al 2020 ). Globalization has multifaceted environmental and social footprints and research has identified hotspots of carbon emissions along production and consumption supply chains (Kagawa et al 2015 ).…”

Section: Step 2: Plan For Climate Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Five Steps to Inject Transformative Change into the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

Grumbine

2021

BioScience

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Accelerating declines in biodiversity and unmet targets in the Convention on Biological Diversity's 2010–2020 Strategic Plan for Biodiversity are stimulating widespread calls for transformative change. Such change includes societal transitions toward sustainability, as well as in specific content of the CBD's draft Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. We summarize research on transformative change and its links to biodiversity conservation, and discuss how it may influence the work of the CBD. We identify five steps to inject transformative change into the design and implementation of a new post-2020 framework: Pay attention to lessons learned from transitions research, plan for climate change, reframe area-based conservation, scale up biodiversity mainstreaming, and increase resources. These actions will transform the very nature of work under the CBD; a convention based on voluntary implementation by countries and facilitated by international administrators and experts must now accommodate a broader range of participants including businesses, Indigenous peoples, and multiple nonstate actors.

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“…In the very state of Rondônia, there are municipalities with 15% of forest cover, and landscapes with less than 5% of forest cover if we consider landscape sizes of 25 km2 (analyzed from Project MapBiomas Collection [4.1] www.mapbiomas.org.br), which is landscape size in which forest cover affects restoration success worldwide (Crouzeilles and Curran 2016). Southern Amazonia has the largest area demanding for restoration in order to comply with Brazilian environmental laws (Rajão et al 2020); sites will probably need active restoration or assisted natural regeneration.…”

Section: Active Restoration or Natural Regeneration?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Active Restoration Initiates High Quality Forest Succession In A Deforested Landscape In Amazonia

Vieira

Rodrigues

Jakovac

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background: Amazonia is well known for its high natural regeneration capacity; for this reason, passive restoration is normally recommended for the recovery of its degraded forests. However, highly deforested landscapes in southern Amazonia require active restoration. Since restoration methods can shape the quality and speed of early forest recovery, this study aimed to verify how active restoration pushes non-resilient sites towards forest recovery. Methods: We evaluated early forest succession at active restoration sites, i.e. soil plowing, direct seeding of pioneer species and seedling stock planting at low density. We analyzed forest structure, diversity and species composition in two age classes, 0.5 – 3.5 and 4.5 – 7.5 years old. As reference, we evaluated natural regeneration as performed on more resilient sites in the same region. We sampled 36 active restoration and 31 natural regeneration sites along the Madeira river, southern Amazonia. Results: Active restoration triggered succession to similar or higher levels of forest structure than sites where natural regeneration was taking place. The most dominant species did not overlap between active restoration and natural regeneration sites. The overall composition of species was different between the two restoration methods. Dominant species and size class distribution indicate that active restoration is performing successfully. Conclusions: Soil preparation combined with a high availability of seeds of pioneer trees resulted in a high stem density and basal area of facilitative pioneer trees. Planted seedlings added species diversity and increased density of large trees. Interventions to increase the odds of natural regeneration can be effective for non-resilient sites located in resilient landscapes.

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The rotten apples of Brazil's agribusiness

Abstract: Brazil's inability to tackle illegal deforestation puts the future of its agribusiness at risk

Cited by 279 publications

References 7 publications

Brazil’s sugarcane embitters the EU-Mercosur trade talks

Brazil’s sugarcane embitters the EU-Mercosur trade talks

Five Steps to Inject Transformative Change into the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

Active Restoration Initiates High Quality Forest Succession In A Deforested Landscape In Amazonia

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