The challenge of commodity-centric governance in sacrifice frontiers

Evidence from the Brazilian Cerrado's soy sector

Bibliographic Data

ID8945210
AuthorsSamuel A Levy (0000-0003-0189-0036, ETH Zurich, corresponding author), Anna Victoria Nogueira Garik (Boston University), Rhianna Garrett (0000-0002-6171-263X, University of Cambridge), Rachael D Garrett
Year2024
Volume150
Pages103972-103972
Publication date2024-02-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeoforum (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0016-7185 • E-ISSN: 1872-9398
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.geoforum.2024.103972
OpenAlexW4392214736
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited114

Conservation governance is increasingly globalized, particularly supply chain polices implemented by multinational corporations. However, the ways that local elite narratives and power networks influence the design and implementation of policies is poorly understood. We examine the role that local agribusiness narratives have on producers’ resistance to supply chain policies through the concept of the “sacrifice frontier”. We theorize sacrifice frontiers are regions where reinforcing perceptions that conversion of native vegetation has high economic potential and low conservation importance combine with rapid processes of wealth and power consolidation by agribusiness interests. We posit that these dimensions of a sacrifice frontier make rapid land use change and ongoing social and ecological harm especially probable as they reinforce constraints on sustainability governance. Here, we build on existing theories of environmental sacrifice through the case of the Cerrado biome, Brazil’s most active deforestation frontier. We argue that in the Cerrado, and other sacrifice frontiers like it, interventions that seek to reduce native vegetation loss cannot rely on supply-chain led policies, but instead need to foster more territorial multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder discussions to alter the narrative of sociocultural and biodiversity sacrifice locally. We suggest this can be achieved by paying attention to local needs in a manner that is inclusive to all land users present within a targeted landscape

Business · Commodity · Corporate governance · Development economics · Economics · Geography · Market economy · Natural resource economics · Sacrifice · Agricultural Innovations and Practices · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management · Finance

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