Abstract
Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and land use in Brazil accounted for 72% of the total in 2020. Apart from this, the agricultural sector, particularly the agribusiness, with growing economic power and political influence over the last three decades, has been linked to the path of deforestation in the Amazon and the Cerrado, central to Brazilian identity and international perceptions of the country in terms of climate change. In this chapter, we analyze the heterogeneous trajectory of the agricultural sector as key to understanding the past, present, and future role of Brazil in the International Political Economy of Climate Change. The questions we seek to answer in this chapter are thus: What is the influence of different subsectors of Brazilian agriculture, mainly agribusiness, on the role of Brazil in the international political economy of climate change? Will the trajectory of the different sectors reduce or increase the level of climate commitment of Brazil? We answer these questions through the analysis of the agricultural subsectors’ positions on GHG emissions and climate policy responses of the national government in four historical periods, using the Climate Commitment Approach. In this regard, we look at three dimensions: technical modernization, political power, and relation to climate change.
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Notes
- 1.
During the 1980s and 1990s, deforestation had a cycle with four phases: first, the logging of high-value trees producing severe forest degradation; second, the burning of the remaining forest (the most destructive phase of the cycle); third, the establishment of cattle on open land (cattle ranching with very low productivity); and two possibilities for a fourth phase: abandonment of the land with natural forest growth (although less carbon and biodiversity intensive than in the past) or a switch to more intensive cattle ranching or annual soybean crops.
- 2.
https://responsiblesoy.org/members?lang=en. Consulted in 18/09/22.
- 3.
The Waxman-Markey Bill (American Clean Energy and Security Act), which established a framework for mitigation efforts in the United States, passed the House of Representatives in June 2009 but never got to the Senate given the closed opposition of the Republican Party.
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Franchini, M.A., Viola, E., Guivant, J.S. (2023). Brazilian Agriculture and the International Political Economy of Climate Change. In: Søndergaard, N., de Sá, C.D., Barros-Platiau, A.F. (eds) Sustainability Challenges of Brazilian Agriculture. Environment & Policy, vol 64. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29853-0_4
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