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Biodiversity markets offer considerable promise but are accompanied by controversies. Here, we map the utilization of native species (NS) from Brazil's biodiversity across eleven industrial sectors: foodstuffs, beverages, textiles, clothing, leather, wood, pulp and paper, biofuels, pharmochemicals, rubber and furniture. We show that there exists a diverse range of NS use in industrial products (48%) and activities (73%). These economic activities represent potential annual exports of approximately USD $50 billion. However, we found that only 1% of the potential business, USD $500 million of annual exports, is consolidated and can be traced to such products. We show that biodiversity markets and larger annual revenues locate in municipalities away from places in which biodiversity products originate. Therefore, the biodiversity business in Brazil remains largely untapped. This prompts a critical examination of the role of biodiversity within the Brazilian industry and its alignment with the Brazilian Biodiversity Law and the Nagoya Protocol. Our study is a pioneering effort that provides strategic recommendations. We suggest that the responsibility for sustainable NS utilization predominantly falls on sectors dominated by major corporations, most notably pharmochemicals and biofuels. These industry sectors possess the potential to lead the transition towards responsible and sustainable biodiversity practices within Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the potential implications of the proposed European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and the recently adopted United Kingdom (UK) legislation on deforestation-free supply chains (henceforth 'the legislation') for different stakeholders in Brazil. These regulations intend to address global commodity-driven deforestation and forest degradation by ensuring that targeted commodities and products placed on (or exported from) markets are of minimal risk of being associated with - in the EU - deforestation and forest degradation or - in the UK - illegal deforestation. The paper examines potential compliance readiness in cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soybean and tropical timber supply chains in Brazil, indicating specific challenges that may arise. Through the construction of a "Compliance Likelihood Index", our research provides comparable indications to policymakers on sectors and stakeholders that may need stronger support to meet the requirements, in order to maintain Brazil's access to EU and UK markets. The paper indicates that coffee is the sector with the highest level of incentivization and smallest hurdles for compliance, while the cattle sector may face stronger challenges to rapidly adjust its production system towards a deforestation-free value chain and prove compliance. Results of our analysis also highlight the need for collaboration between the EU/UK and Brazil in order to promote alignment between domestic and demand-side legislations so that they are mutually reinforcing. Results of this exercise, which has a focus on the producer-country view of demand-side legislation, will contribute to discussions on the merits of different approaches to strengthen the governance of deforestation-risk commodity trade. [Display omitted] • Brazil's coffee sector may currently have the greatest likelihood of ready compliance. • Cattle may be the sector to which the regulations may pose the greatest challenges. • The EU and UK should focus on providing financial means and technical assistance for smallholders. • The EU and UK legislation will need to be accompanied by domestic policies and regulations in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the effects of public policies on the occurrence of natural disasters related to extreme rainfall. By using a unique and geolocated database on natural disasters in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, I test whether variables related to public policies - e.g. forest cover and urban infrastructure - affect the occurrence of natural disasters, conditional on the existence of extreme rainfall. Results point to a significant role for public policies in order to mitigate effects of extreme weather events. More specifically, results point to an important role for urban infrastructure, as proper sewage and waste collection, and forest cover in reducing the impacts of extreme rainfall. Moreover, I discuss how these heterogeneous effects have distributional consequences and can be linked to the Environmental Justice literature. Finally, this paper reinforces the idea that adaptation policies to disasters are essential in reducing local vulnerabilities and can yield distributional and fiscal benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies have compared the profitability of organic and conventional producers, but present very conflicting results. Although in the majority of these papers selection bias due to observables is accounted for, the possibility of selection based on unobservables has been largely overlooked. In this paper, we compare these two types of producers using a large and unique data of about 4.2 million family farmers in Brazil. Standard propensity score matching techniques are used together with the procedure recently developed by Oster (forthcoming) to address concerns about omitted variables. Our results confirm the working hypothesis that organic producer's profits are lower than conventional ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During almost 20 years of political debate on the nature of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES), these schemes have been characterized mostly as a non-market approach, even though attempts to transform them into market instruments has persistently recurred in these debates. One notable example is the materialization of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) in Brazil, where a sustainable development discourse dominates national forest governance at the expense of a carbon commodification discourse. This research paper adopts a Foucauldian approach to plot the epistemological foundations of the market logics that still influence REDD+ institutionalization in Brazil to a large extent and thereby reproduce what we define as a ruptured dependence on nature. More specifically, we recognize ruptured dependence in the three building blocks of market instruments, namely singularization, monetary valuation and appropriation. Our analysis shows that REDD+ institutions have retained the singularization and monetary valuation of emission reductions, even though the appropriation processes have rejected the possibility of exchange and instead emphasized the national ownership of emission reductions. However, appropriation remains a highly politicized process that is sensitive to criticism and open to calls for alternative approaches that are closer to ruptured dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) is generally believed to be a cost-effective mitigation strategy against climate change. Some suggest, however, that costs of REDD+ are underestimated because many studies either exclude or undervalue transaction costs. A major challenge in this field of research is the absence of a common framework and methodology for assessing such costs. This paper uses the notion of governance structures to suggest a generic definition and methodology for measuring transaction costs. The methodology is subsequently used in an analysis of transaction costs for REDD+ pilots in RDS Rio Negro, Brazil and Kilosa, Tanzania. Results indicate higher unit costs – costs per ton of reduced CO 2 – of establishing the REDD+ governance structures in Kilosa, while unit costs of using those structures are higher in RDS Rio Negro. The results also show that while REDD+ was originally conceived as a market i.e., a direct trade between buyers and sellers, it could also take on a non-market governance structure or a mixture of market and non-market elements. These different forms of governance structures have implications for transaction costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a critical look at how energy security-, food and agriculture-, and climate change-oriented international organizations frame biomass energy production in developing countries, in particular, ethanol production in Brazil. Using the world-economy system as a theoretical lens, the paper raises a concern as to whether the way these global institutions frame bioenergy's role in developing regions manifests energy and ecological inequalities between the core and the periphery, as well as creates internal contradictions that perpetuate unequal exchange embedded in the system. Simultaneously, these organizations frame Brazil as a semi-peripheral state that, while successful in finding a niche concurring with the core's demand for cheap energy and cost-effective decarbonization strategies, is not necessarily a suitable role model for the periphery's socio–economic development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper investigates the sustainability of agroecological and conventional agriculture on small farms in southern Brazil. A methodology was developed to identify agri-environmental indicators of the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the farming systems. The criteria used for selecting sustainability indicators were policy relevance, measurability, validity/analytical soundness, level of aggregation/communication to the user. Based on these criteria indicators were selected for natural, financial, physical, human, and social capital assets. The research identified ‘external’ indicators, those relevant to researcher/policy makers, and ‘internal’ indicators, those relevant to the resource users. The two sets were combined and data relevant to the selected indicators were collected from secondary sources and also direct from farmers through a small-scale sample survey. After analysing the data, indicators were selected for each capital asset to generate a multi-criteria assessment of sustainability at three scales: farm, local and regional. The analysis provided evidence of ecological and social advantages of ecological farms, but financial disadvantages associated with the cost of alternative marketing arrangements for agroecological produce. The paper draws conclusions about the usefulness of indicators in the assessment of farming sustainability and possibilities for wider application. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Brazil is an active player in the CDM business, even playing host to the first CDM project ever registered. Although the majority of the CDM actions which have been developed to date in Brazil are in the energy sector, an analysis of Brazil''s emissions profile demonstrates that the energy sector does not have a significant share of the country''s emissions. Rather that 25% and 56% of the emissions stem from Agriculture and Land Use activities, respectively. In the light of this profile, this paper re-evaluates Brazil''s national Green House Gas (GHG) matrix, and attempts to highlight the potential of the Land Use and Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) CDM projects. An analysis of potential actions for improved penetration of LULUCF projects is presented, alongside key recommendations for future actions. This paper outlines how and why LULUCF projects can become the cornerstone of sustainable development policy in the North and North East region of Brazil, two of the main less developed regions in the country, totalling 62% of the country''s land mass. A focus is made on three A/R projects recently development in Brazil. Through these case studies, an attempt is made to outline potential guidelines for future actions. This paper demonstrates that A/R projects have a significant potential impact on local and rural development in Brazil today. They have the potential to promote the sustainable use of forestry and soil resources. From the analysis it is clear that satisfying local community needs and commitments is a necessary prerequisite to achieving a situation where the risks associated with the issuing of the CER''s (Certified Emission Reductions) could be better managed and also in line with enhanced support from the national authorities (as part of local development plans). The paper concludes that Brazil has significant potential to develop LULUCF CDM projects and that these projects can promote sustainable development through direct impact on the sustainable livelihoods of local communities over the long-term. It is recommended, in line with Brazil''s current emission profile, that to realise this potential it is necessary to design a new relationship model between the key players involved in the CDM process: government agents, local stakeholders, national academia and private parties. Further it is necessary for the Federal Government to foster the LULUCF projects. Supporting actions include defining clear policies that minimise risk and/or reduce perceived risk and the promotion of multi-stakeholder involvement in the CDM project development process. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

While sustainability standards promise better labor and environmental conditions, changes in actual practice occur inconsistently. Existing literature has explained this mainly through focusing on structures and mechanisms that originate from outside producers' organizations. This paper instead examines the intraorganizational process by which rules turn into practices on the ground. It offers an inside-out approach that draws on data from an eight-month participant observation study of certified agricultural commodity producers in Brazil. The key finding of this paper is that rules get turned into practices through discovering and cultivating a practice ecosystem in which certified producers in the Global South learn to implement new practices through a self-guided, two-step discovery process. First, they must discover how to build and integrate the elements of a practice; second, they must discover how to support the internalization of this practice. Further, adjacent practices—those alongside the ones that need to be integrated—are pivotal in determing whether producers succeed in building new practices. This paper contributes to the literature on sustainable commodity governance and to organizational theories of practice adaptation. It shows that sustainable commodity governance depends not only on external structures and mechanisms, but also, equally importantly, on the internal organizational mechanisms for new practices to take hold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Brazil, the Cadastro Ambiental Rural (CAR) is currently being implemented. This policy aims to geo-reference all properties and promote monitoring of, and compliance with, natural vegetation conservation requirements. Scholarly efforts and policy attention have so far concentrated on possible environmental impacts hereof, while the attention devoted to how the CAR might affect farmers' livelihoods has been limited. In this paper, we evaluate potential livelihood impacts of the CAR and programs that facilitate CAR registration. We do so by developing a conceptual framework and using evidence from semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders including farmers, governments, and funding agencies. We find that while the CAR and programs facilitating CAR do not have explicit livelihood impact goals, they nonetheless affect livelihoods, both positively and negatively, depending on the initial amount of natural vegetation on farmers' properties, farmers' access to credit and infrastructure, and changing market conditions. We argue that environmental interventions and policies need to consider potential livelihood impacts, especially if the policy intervention area has high poverty rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) for Brazil from 1970 to 2010 as an alternative indicator to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). After a growing disparity between these two indicators in the 1980s, when Brazil's per capita GPI featured a 35% decline, there was a relative catch-up in per capita GPI, but not one sufficiently strong enough to reduce the historical GPI–GDP gap. The recent trend of rapidly increasing environmental and social costs, along with the decline in unpaid labour and infrastructure services, poses concerns about the sustainability of an increasing GPI for Brazil into the future. Policies aimed at reducing environmental costs are necessary if Brazil is to enjoy a sustainable pattern of non-declining economic welfare. Brazil must pursue a higher rate of productivity in material and energy consumption in order to keep environmental pressures to a minimum level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the dynamics of land-use in the Brazilian Amazon using a structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model. A fixed effect panel data specification is used to control for the heterogeneity in the data. Meanwhile, spatial autocorrelation is also diagnosed by a statistical methodology that allows us to split the model in subsamples (clusters) of more homogenous municipalities. The clustering analysis shows that there are three clusters whose land-use patterns are strongly different in an economical point of view. The first cluster identifies municipalities dedicated to logging, natural resources exploitation and slash-and-burn cultures; the second cluster shows a more diversified agriculture; while the third cluster presents very developed intensive agriculture municipalities. Another contribution of this article relies on the assessment of contemporaneous causal relation among distinct land-uses areas. This new approach allows us to evaluate the dynamics relations arisen from unexpected innovations in the process of soil occupation. The impulse response functions (IRF) and the forecast error variance decompositions (FEVD) generate the following results: (1) in the opposition direction of previous studies, we find that the demand for cropping does not require to clear new areas of forest.; (2) contrary to previous studies we do not find indication that cattle ranching is the primary driver of deforestation; (3) the impact of a shock of pasture land on itself is virtually null at the initial stages, but increases over time, not requiring to clear extra areas of forest land but rather competing with crop land; (4) it seems that if not for all the Amazon Basin, at least in one cluster, cattle ranching and cropping could be competitive activities; and (5) we find out that in the long run pasture innovation is responsible for the major percent of the forecast error concern all land uses. It probably means that the destiny of distinct categories of land, in cluster one, is endogenously determine by activities connected to cattle. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper analyzes the impact of agricultural technical efficiency on the propensity of farmers to convert natural land into agricultural plots, i.e., to deforest, in the Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA). A two-step econometric approach is adopted. A bootstrapped translog stochastic frontier that is a posteriori checked for functional consistency is used to assess technical efficiency and these estimates are put into a land-use model to assess the impact of productivity on deforestation. Analysis of agricultural census tract data suggests that technical efficiency has a U-shaped effect: both less and more efficient farms use more land for their agricultural activities and so have a positive effect on deforestation. However, the majority of farms in the BLA are on the ascendant slope, so that efficiency implies more deforestation in the BLA. The poor environmental valuation of the Brazilian forest, the uneven land distribution, and the problem of the de facto openly accessed forested and “unproductive” lands in the BLA could explain the U-shaped effect of technical efficiency on the conversion of forested land into agricultural land. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

There has been a long and intensive debate within the scientific community about the role of international trade in the development of countries. During the last decades, the focus of attention has moved from the pure economic level to the environmental aspects of international trade. Establishing a simplified system of North–South trade for one reference period (2003), this paper attempts to test empirically the extent of potential asymmetries with regard to extracted material flows, and contrasts the results with the economic benefits from trade (in terms of value-added). The South is thereby represented by a selection of Latin American countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico), the North comprises one of their main commercial partners, the United States. At the methodological level, a multi-regional input–output analysis is used as the tool of investigation. Results generally support the hypothesis that the South was feeding the North's societal metabolism. South–North material exports were 1.6 times larger than North–South material exports, resulting in a net deficit for the South of 324 million tons. Moreover, material intensity of exported commodities from the South was twice as high as that from the North. It is worth highlighting, however, that part of the North-South hypothesis fails for the sample of countries since the larger part of the economic surplus has remained in the South, contrarily to what would have been expected. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Developing counties are often believed to have excellent conditions for biofuel production, however studies aimed at assessing the sustainability of large scale biofuel programs have generally focused on a few variables related to one scientific domain and one scale. Contrary to this approach, this paper analyzes soybean biodiesel in Brazil using a parallel biophysical and economic assessment at different scales. A Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM) approach is applied as a scenario analysis tool. A soybean biodiesel energy balance for the specific conditions of Brazil is included and the energy ratio turns out to be 1.09. This means that the energy delivered is higher than the energy invested, however the net energy is very low. The economic impacts are analyzed through input–output analysis. The results show that soybean biodiesel increases energy consumption per hour of work without a corresponding increase in economic labor productivity. Consequently the already low energy efficiency of Brazilian production could get worse. Although Brazil has large expanses of land, the substitution of 20% fossil diesel (i.e. just 3.3% of the country's primary energy consumption) with fully renewable biodiesel might destroy protected areas and forests and increase the GHGs emitted. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines the occurrence of a decoupling between the growth rates in economic activity and CO2 emissions from energy consumption in Brazil from 2004 to 2009. This decoupling was highlighted when economic activity and CO2 emissions moved in opposite directions in 2009. More generally, we observe several periods of relative decoupling in Brazil, but not to the extent witnessed in 2009. To identify the determinants of emissions change, we develop a decomposition model based on a log-mean Divisia index (LMDI) framework. The results indicate that the carbon intensity and energy mix are the main determinant of emissions reduction in Brazil between 2004 and 2009. Modifications in the economy structure are also associated to emission mitigation in the period. Such evidence demonstrates similarities with events of decoupling registered for the interval 1980–1994 in Brazil. Finds from Brazil differ from observations in other countries in which improvement in energy intensity has been the most common determinant of emissions reduction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Based on three case studies in China and Brazil, this paper explores the terms of access for farmers' participation in certified organic agriculture (OA) and investigates the influence of adoption on productivity, nutrient budgets, income and labour use. Small-scale farmers converting to OA require substantial external production-related, marketing and certification support. Access to OA was strongly dependent upon the type of support available to farmers. Organization based on a contract-farming model resulted in OA only being an option available to a narrow group of farmers, whilst OA initiated by a farmer cooperative provided better access. Gross output was significantly higher for oranges, whilst for the other crops gross output was similar. However, organic farmers in China felt that adoption had improved prices, incomes and market access. Farmers' perception of improved incomes is probably due to improved market access coupled with either a large production base, production intensification and production diversification. This study demonstrates that organization of farmers, and the manner in which this is structured, is crucial for external support to have an effect. Thus, OA may be a development path for small farmers if the supporting structures are provided at a small financial interest rate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper studies the coevolutionary ecological–economic dynamics of agro-environmental change. The case study is Santa Rosa (Brazil) and the modernization of subsistence agriculture followed by the more recent emergence of organic farming. We use coevolution as an integrative framework for explaining how and why economic production changed over time in Santa Rosa in interdependence with the ecosystem resulting in a mosaic of diverse farm practices. A coevolutionary framework expands the explanatory breadth of prevailing accounts of agro-environmental change that rely on a notion of shifts from one singular, homogeneous production economy to the next. It unveils the complex processes driving agro-environmental change, instead of focusing on the structures resulting from it. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper focuses on the impact of property rights insecurity on deforestation in the Brazilian Legal Amazon. Deforestation is considered as a risk management strategy: property rights insecurity reduces the present value of forests and fosters forest conversion into agricultural and pasture lands. Moreover, deforestation is the consequence of strategic interactions between landowners and squatters. Landowners clear the forest preventively in order to assert the productive use of land and to reduce the expropriation risk. Squatters invade land plots, clear the forest and may afterwards gain official recognition with formal property titles. A particular attention is paid to the measure of land property rights insecurity in the Brazilian context. It is assumed that property rights insecurity has a multidimensional character taken into account by the number of homicides related to land conflicts and expropriation procedures. Principal component analysis allows synthesising such information. An econometric model of deforestation is estimated on a panel dataset on the 1988¿2000 period and the nine states of the Brazilian Legal Amazon. The hypothesis that insecure land property rights contribute to higher rates of deforestation is not rejected when the simultaneity bias between insecure property rights and deforestation is addressed. This result questions the modality of the Brazilian land reform that considers forested areas as unproductive and thus open for expropriation procedures. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines the evolution of a coastal Lagoon ecosystem in Brazil, focusing on how the dynamics between the ecosystem and human systems have influenced the emergence and dynamics of the shrimp market. We focus on the Ibiraquera Lagoon on the southern Brazilian coast, tracing the history of the development of the Lagoon''s seven bordering communities over the last five decades. We then describe the evolution of the area''s shrimp market, describing its players and its demand, supply, and price characteristics. The story that emerges is of a transition from a small barter-based market to a patronage-dominated system to a wider, more complex, price-based system in which the traditional middlemen still exist but serve more as distributors than as patrons. The transitions were facilitated largely through the provision of roads and electricity to the Lagoon communities, which opened the area to tourism and greater business opportunities, and made shrimp storage and transport possible. Interaction between the Lagoon ecosystem and the social and economic systems is clearly an important factor in the dynamics of the shrimp market. Natural and manipulated Lagoon channel openings along with fishing activity influence the amount, size and marketability of the shrimp harvest. Additionally, pollution of the Lagoon''s waters influences shrimp quality and thus price. New institutional arrangements will be needed to address unwanted developments and to ensure that the shrimp market continues to thrive while the Lagoon on which it depends is sustained. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Using the analysis developed by Montgomery et al. (J. Environ. Econ. Manage., 1999) as a starting point, this study establishes the bounds limits to the management price for the conservation of biodiversity. This means, how much the household would be willing to pay to finance a conservation program for three endangered species in Brazil. This program must be restricted to the change in habitat with regard to public benefits associated with biodiversity. Here, this increment in habitat means the marginal benefit derived from the increase in the size of the population. An important point of this paper is that we work with the robust instrument called the Population Viability Analysis (PVA) that estimates the survival probability of the species in the future given a current exogenous disturbance. We show that the results are very sensitive to the parameters of the model, mainly the population''s current size and the degree of diversity. We also show that the total amount spent on conservation in Brazil is below the socially optimal level, considering only the three species analyzed in this study. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Through its NDC, Brazil pledged to reduce its GHG emissions by 43% below 2005 levels in 2030, respectively. Carbon pricing could play a key role in meeting this objective. However, a range of issues can emerge when introducing it. Among these issues, the distributional impact has been frequently highlighted as an obstacle to the public acceptance of such a mitigation policy. This paper examines the short-run welfare and emission effects of an economy-wide carbon tax on Brazilian households. The distributional impact is examined by estimating the tax burden relative to annual expenditures and changes in total GHG emissions across income levels, using tax rates consistent with the Paris Agreement and considering a lump-sum rebate that keeps the government revenue neutral. For this, we calculate energy-related GHG emissions coefficients from fossil fuel burning for the whole household consumption basket, and price and expenditure elasticities which account for the zero-expenditure and underdeclaration problems. Our results indicate that the incidence of the carbon tax is effective in reducing emissions in the short run, but imposes welfare losses, especially on the poor. The consideration of compensation mechanisms is critical when designing this type of environmental tax, specially in the context of a highly complex tax-system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the influence of ecological fiscal transfers (EFT) on the policy-making process of adopting local protected areas (PA) by municipal governments. Framed on the transaction-cost politics (TCP), it argues that an EFT schema designed at the state level may affect the expected payoff/costs of local level decisions and the time length to create PA. The mixed research design is composed of two parts: first, a descriptive analysis detailing the evolution of EFT in the state of Minas Gerais since the beginning until its current version; second, an event history analysis of municipal PA adoption from 1966 to 2013. The conclusion suggests that, while there is an overall increase in municipal PA after the introduction of EFT, some design aspects of the instrument such as uncertainty and monitoring costs slowed and flattened that increase. • EFT affects the adoption of protected areas by increasing the incentives to adoption, namely sustainable PAs • The introduction of the quality index reduces the probability of adoption of protected areas • There is a higher degree of transaction costs in integral group of municipal protected areas after the adoption of EFT • The uncertainty surrounding the ecological fiscal transfers increases the costs which may challenge future adoptions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]