1

Green Governance, Green Peace: A Program of InternationalExchange in Environmental Governance, Community

Resource Management, and Conflict Resolution

THE GREEN GOVERNANCE IN BRAZILIAN CERRADO

Luiz Fernando Macedo Bessa, Professor Dr., Program on EnvironmentalPlanning and Management, Catholic University of Brasília- Brazil.lbessa@pos.ucb.br

Marta Maria Gomes de Oliveira, M. Sc., Federal District's Secretary ofEnvironment and Water Resources. martaucb@terra.com.br

Rebecca Abers, Researcher, Center of Public Policy Research, University ofBrasilia. abers@solar.com.br

Carmem Silvia Treuherz Salomão, M. Sc. candidate Program on EnvironmentalPlanning and Management , Catholic University of Brasília- Brazil.csambiental@uol.com.br

November 2005

2

THE GREEN GOVERNANCE IN BRAZILIAN CERRADO

1. Introduction

In the last quarter of the 20th century, the environmental issue has reached the status ofa global problem that has mobilized the organized civil society as well as the mediaand the governments of all regions of the planet. Meanwhile, the revolutionarychanges in technologies of communication and the falling costs of transportation hadallowed the world’s economies to have experienced a process of liberalization that ismainly characterized by the reduction of trade and non-trade barriers among them.These processes of social, political and economic changes, often referred to asglobalization, have changed the world order, related to the collapse of socialisms andthe rise of a neo-liberal hegemony.

As Evans (class note) points out, there is a distinction about generic globalization andneo-liberal globalization. Generic globalization is the shrinking of space and thepermanent increase of borders that result from falling costs of transportation andrevolutionary changes in technologies of communication. Sometimes, genericglobalization is confounded with neo-liberal globalization: the specific rules andinformal power relations under which our current global political economy isorganized. Its principle features being: a) the defense of existing property right; b)rules intended to increase the role of market transitions as opposed to politicaldecisions in the allocation of resources, but also; c) international support fordemocracy. Neo-liberal globalization is an interest based socio-political construction.

Economically, the reduction of trade barriers has brought to the acceleration ofexchanges between countries, not only of products, but also of capital, and to theemergence of new actors: the transnational corporations, which invest and producewherever they find the best conditions and export their production to wherever thereis profitable demand.

From a political point of view, globalization has reduced the role of territorialsovereign states. As Hanson (2005) highlights, globalization has changed the waystates react both to transnational forces and to their own citizens: in some respects thisheightens the powers of the state and in other ways it reduces them. In any case, it isclear that understanding how authority is exercised now requires examination of theinteractions between local, national, regional and international state and non-stateactors. This observation has led many analysts to propose the study of “governance”rather than “government”. As Stoker (apud Hanson, 2005) points out, “government”generally refers to formal state institutions, while “governance” instead refers to allsorts of new arrangements for creating order and structuring collective action.Conceptually, the value of the concept of governance is that it provides “a frameworkfor understanding processes of governing”.

Empirical studies in the global South and post communist countries are increasing. Inmany developing countries, sweeping changes in environmental governance directlyinfluence industrial (and agro-industrial) sectors. Neo-liberal economic policiescombined with nascent post dictatorship democratization and powerful agriculturaland extractive sectors make ecological modernization a highly contentious anduneven process (JEPSON e BRANNSTROM, 2005).

3

During the 80’s Brazilian economic crisis, a result of the external indebtednessprocess, the investment in industrial production had shrunk. Thus, the agriculturalsector has presented itself as the alternative of investment and soybean was upgradedto an important spot in Brazil’s exportation program. Soybean has brought to Brazilthe concept of agribusiness and launched the country into the internationalcommodities market. This process is being held especially in the Cerrado, regionconsidered one of the last agricultural borders of the country, representing 58% ofnational export soy production (Cadier, 2004), drawing the attention of theinternational economic community to this region. With the opening of Brazilianeconomy in the early 90’s, the flow of international incomes has increased, which hasmade the country more vulnerable to foreign decisions

The expansion of the modern business agriculture, considered the most dynamicsector of Brazil’s economy, becomes a constant menace to socioenvironmentalbalance. However, the success of this model is being highlighted both in the academyand the media due to its remarkable records in exportation. “With output of 52.2million tons and exports of more than 30 millions tons in 2003, Brazil has turned intothe largest exporter and almost the first producer of soybean in the world just after theUS. The soybean sector now accounts for 6% of GDP” (Whyte, WWF). Thecontradictions inflicted in this process end up hidden, though its understating isessential.

The insertion of this process in Brazil brings up the discussion around sustainabledevelopment and streghten the classical social dilemma: agribusiness expansion orenvironmental conservation. As Whyte points out, soybean production does not comefrom nowhere. It uses natural resources such as soil, water, or forests when land hasto be deforested prior to production (as in the Cerrado region). Moreover, theproduction process produces not only soybean, but also other outputs such as waterand soil pollution etc. the solution to which depends on the sink-capacity of the localecosystem.

Generally the paths taken to solve these problems are being held as a State matter,which are usually implemented through technical and scientific policies (thetraditional command-and-control regulatory system) and by strengthening State’sregulatory agencies capacities (clear policies; sufficient funding; and training staff), towhich O’Rourke (2004) calls “Green Weberian” bureaucracy. The way the State isfacing environmental issues has been generating different types of problems ofmanagement and institutional coordination, which may not consider the essence of theconflicts born from distinct social strata interests and the institutional dysfunctionswhich lead to a misconduct of the State

Likewise the political ecology studies, this problematic should be addressed throughthe political comprehension, to what is known as governance. According to Forsyth(2003), the approach given in the political ecology studies “is to develop a politicalphilosophy of environmental science that indicate how social politic framings arewoven into both the formulation of scientific explanation of environmental problemsand solution propose to reduce them”.

This work aims at understanding the process of environmental governance takingplace in the Brazilian Cerrado in order to subside the development of researches

4

concerning “ecological modernization” 1. Thus, we depart from a contextualitation ofthe occupation process of the Brazilian territory, especially in the last 40 years, whena new pattern of geographic space organization begins to be designed. Furthermore,an approach is made to the way the State has been organizing itself to manage forest’sresources, having that the process of devastation through which Brazilian biomes aregoing. From the specific characteristics of the Cerrado, we will try to identify themain problems and socioenvironmental impacts caused by the expansion ofagribusiness, its conflicts and the actors involved, specially the ones who depend ofthe Cerrado’s resources for their survival, and yet how the interact having in mind theongoing model of economic development.

2. The organization of the Brazilian Geographic space.

The world sees Brazil as a “traditional” natural resource reserve, of especiallytremendous biodiversity with the largest tropical forest on the planet. Historically,economic development in Brazil has been closely related to the exploitation of itsnatural resources and to territorial expansion. The “frontier” has always provided theresource base necessary for expanding the economy. Frontier expansion has occurredin cycles, at earlier phases a result of export booms and more recently in response tothe consolidation of the internal market.

The implementation of various types of export activities at different moments ofhistory explains not only the process of demographic expansion but also theappearance of regional differences. Each export product that led a particular economicboom was associated with a different region of the country: gold in Minas GeraisState, sugar in the Northeast, coffee in the Southeast, rubber in the Amazon region,etc. The result was that until the 1950s, Brazil was made up of economically dense“islands” isolated from one another and linked directly to the international market.The main activity of the Amazon region was precarious extractivism, mostly ofrubber latex. In the Cerrado (Savannah) of the central plateau, in the Caatinga of thesemi-arid northeast and in the subtropical fields in the south, extensive cattle raisingwas the main rural activity.

The call for national integration was a central focus of Brazil’s developmentalisteconomic policies. Territorial integration, considered necessary for the growth of theinternal market, was made possible by the creation of a network highway and energyinfrastructure, beginning in the second half of the 1950s. Territorial integration effortsbecame more intensive in the 1970s, with the growing use of tax and credit incentives,to spur production outside more developed areas of the country. The construction ofBrasilia during this period changed the nation’s political map. It also redesigned the

1 Ecological modernization theory combines a ‘realist’ attitude towards market ideologies anddynamics hegemonic in the world today (with a reformist approach to the environmental redesign ofcontemporary societies. One of the strengths of ecological modernization theory is its attempt toexplain institutional changes in modern societies related to the internalization of new environmentalvalues and norms. One change identified but barely analyzed by ecological modernization theoristsrelates to the evolving role of environmental social movements in the reconstitution of modern societyalong more market- and ecologically-oriented lines (Sonnenfeld David A et alli 1999).

5

national transportation network, which from then on became increasingly dependenton the growth of the internal market. Brasília was also a stepping stone on the way tothe Amazon. The incorporation of remote resource frontiers was, by then, seen to be ageopolitical and security priority. The result had a direct impact on it’s the Amazon’sfragile forest ecosystem.

National integration policies were elaborate and aggressive in the 1970s. Theincorporation of natural resources was the primary condition for the growth of theeconomic frontier in the country after the desired level of industrial and financialconcentration was attained in São Paulo. Over time, the frontier expanded to includewestern Paraná and the central plateau, as well as the Amazon region and the interiorof the Northeast. This movement occurred as a consequence of the expansion ofmodernized agriculture through western Paraná, the central plains and, more recently,into the tablelands of western Bahía and southern Maranhão and Piauí.

The incorporation of new areas into the national economy was also associated withurbanization and industrialization, which involved not only the growth of existingregional and national centers but also large and medium sized cities outside thecoastal areas where land occupation historically took place (IBAMA, 2002). With a2005 estimate of 183.6 million inhabitants (IBGE), Brazil has 81.2% of its populationconcentrated in urban areas. There are 13 cities whose population is over 1,000,000inhabitants. In addition, the country has two megacities, São Paulo and Rio deJaneiro, each with populations over 15 million inhabitants.

The role of the frontier and of access to land distinguishes Brazil from its LatinAmerican neighbors, raising specific agrarian issues. According to BECKER (1993),in Mexico, for example, the shortage of arable lands became a problem early on in theindustrialization process. The rigid agrarian structure had to change and stateresources had to be mobilized in order to increase the productivity of agriculturalprojects. Agrarian reform was thus necessary for industrialization. In Brazil, thesupply of agricultural products was guaranteed by the incorporation of new lands,without requiring changes in the pre-established land tenure structures.

3. The impact of economic growth on Brazil’s forests

This occupation process has had complex impacts on Brazil’s extraordinary mosaic ofecosystems. This mosaic is produced not only by great climatic diversity but also byBrazil’s topographic diversity. The richness of the Brazilian biodiversity historicallyled to the belief that the natural resources are inexhaustible, resulting in theirpredatory and disorderly exploitation from the colonial period on. At some point intime, forest land occupation for timber extraction or food production has played animportant role in the process of economic growth in most of areas of the country.

Approximately 550 of Brazil’s 850 million hectares are still covered by native forests.Two thirds correspond to the Amazon Forest, and the remainder to the Cerrado, theCaatinga, the Atlantic Forest and associated ecosystems (IBAMA, 2002) – (Figure 1).

6

Figure 1 – Map of main biomes of Brazil

Source: IBGE

In 2000, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization’s (FAO) decennialsurvey found that Brazil has 544 million hectares of natives forests and 5 millionshectares of planted forests which, when combined, cover 64,5 percent of the nationalterritory. The remainder has been converted to other land uses, including agriculture,cattle-ranching, urban areas and infrastructure (IBAMA, 2002).

Brazil’s forests correspond to 14,5% of the world’s forest cover. While the globalaverage of forest cover per person is 0,6 ha, with great variations according todifferent countries, the Brazilian average is 3,2 ha of forested land per person. Butthere is great disparity from region to region. The North Region, presents the highestproportion, with 37,7 ha of forested land per inhabitant. On the other hand, the mostdensely populated regions have rates that are lower than the global average: 0,35 haper inhabitant in the South Region, and 0,30 per inhabitant in the Southeast Region.The Northeast Region, is in between with about 1,6 ha of forest per inhabitant.(IBAMA, 2002).

The Atlantic forest, the fifth most threatened biome in the world, originally coveredmore than one million square kilometers, distributed along the Brazilian coast, withsome penetration into the interior. Seventy percent of the Brazilian population lives inthe area of this biome, along with the biggest cities and most important industrialregions. Land occupation and use, undertaken in a disorderly manner, resulted inalmost complete destruction of the Atlantic forest. Recent data (SOS Atlantic ForestFoundation 1998) estimated that only 8% of the original forest still exists in isolatedspots. In some regions of the Brazilian Northeast, less than 1% of original AtlanticForest cover remains.

The Cerrado, the second largest Brazilian biome (after the Amazon rainforest)occupies around 2 million km2, almost 25% of the national territory. It comprises amosaic of vegetation types, including open formations (called “clean fields”, “dirtyfields”, “cerrado fields” and “rockyfields”) and specific types of forests (vereda,riverbank, cerrado senso stricto, woodland and mesophyte forest). The Cerrado is the

7

world’s richest savannah in terms of biodiversity (Conservation International et al.,1999 - apud IBAMA, 2002).

This biome has also been the target of intense, uncontrolled occupation. Considered,for many years, as unimportant from the biological point of view, great extensions ofthe Cerrado have been destroyed to make way for agriculture, especially of grains forexport, with no concern for environmental impacts. Many of these projects wereimplanted through government incentives seeking to increase grain production for theinternational market.

“It is estimated that areas with natural vegetation and low human interferencerepresent only 40% of total Cerrado area. That is, 120 million hectares have beenalready converted. With a demographic density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometerand an agribusiness policy based on the rapid substitution of the natural landscape bylarge mechanized monocultures, the region is characterized by a highly urbanizedpopulation” (UNESCO, 2002).

The Caatinga region comprises an area of approximately 735,000 km2, approximately11% of the national territory, including part of the states of Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grandedo Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe, Bahía and Minas Gerais. Thisbiome is dominated by only a few types of vegetation which are found only in Brazil.There is no concrete data as to the rate of loss of vegetation cover for the Caatinga.Maps from Radambrasil Project (IBGE, 1993) demonstrate that the area covered byagricultural activities in the biome consisted of 201,786 km2, which corresponded to27,47% of the area. One study that considered the likely impacts of the existing roadnetwork estimated an altered area of 131,044 km2, in other words 45,32% of thebiome. This figure places Caatinga as one of most altered environments in Brazil,surpassed only by the Atlantic Forest and the Cerrado.

Despite being the most well conserved biome in the country in percentage terms,deforestation and burning in the Amazon are among the most importantenvironmental problems in the country. Deforestation is the result of the advance ofthe agro–pastoral frontier and of timber extraction. During the second half of 20th

Century, deforestation was encouraged by the construction of long roads and largepublic and private colonization projects. During the 1970s and 1980s, tax incentivesfor agricultural and cattle-ranching activities in the region resulted in extensivedeforestation, which continued after incentives ceased. Timber only became theregion’s major extraction product after the beginning of the 1970s, with theconstruction of large roads. Practically 80% of Brazil’s whole-log timber productionis extracted from the Amazon region, which corresponds to 40 % of Brazil’s timberexports (MMA, 2000).

In the late 1970s and during the first seven years of the following decade, the grossdeforestation rate in Amazon was, on average, over 2 million hectares per year. In thelate 1980s the rate declined. In the 1990s, however, it rose again, reaching 2,9 millionhectares in 1994/1995. Coincidentally, during this decade, the country enjoyed highrates of investment showing that there is a correlation between deforestation andeconomic investment (IBAMA, 2002).

The removal of vegetation occurs more intensely in the “Deforestation Belt”, acontinuous stretch of land about 3,000 kilometers long and up to 600 kilometers wide,totaling approximately 1,7 million square kilometers (INPE,1998). Between 1978 and1994, about 75% of deforestation occurred within a distance of 50 kilometers from the

8

region’s paved roads. Between 29% and 58% of the forest within these 100 kilometerwide stretches of land was deforested by 1991 (Alves, 1999; Nepstad et al. 2000;2001 apud IBAMA, 2002).

4. Forest Resources Management Legal Framework and Policies

Brazilian forest policy has gone through three general periods: a) until the middle of1960s, when the regulatory framework was organized by the 1934 Forest Code; b)from the second half of the 1960s until 1988, when interventionist state policiespredominated, especially involving incentives for reforestation; and c) after 1988, theperiod marked by democratization and decentralization, by the increased recognitionof global ecological crisis and by the rapid dissemination sustainable developmentnotions.

In the first period, the 1930 Revolution and the 1934 Constitution marked thetransition of a country dominated by the rural elite, to a Brazil that was beginning toindustrialize and urbanize, particularly in the Southeast Region. In this context, and inthe context of the Estado Novo authoritarian regime, the Forest Code was elaboratedand approved in 1934, through the Federal Decree. The Federal Forest Service, theinstitution responsible for monitoring forest activities, was created in 1925 and tookpart in discussions around the Code. This document classified forests into differentcategories and established limitations to the private use depending on the typeestablished. It also regulated the exploitation of public and private forests and createdmonitoring mechanisms, as well as fines and other punitive procedures.

A system of “forest councils” was formally established at the federal, state and locallevel, but according Swiolo (1990), it never became operational due to the inertia andthe carelessness of state and local authorities, as well as passive and deliberateresistance.

In the post-war period, the effort to transform the agriculturally based Brazilianeconomy into an industrial one relied on the regular supply of forest raw materials asa source of energy for both private and public enterprises. Until 1960s, the country’smain source of wood was native forests. By the end of the 1960s, the area of plantedforests corresponded to a little over 500.000 hectares. Nevertheless, most of the woodextracted from these forests went to the steel industry and to the railway industry.Except for the South, the country’s forest industrial park was still very moderate.

In 1965, a new Forest Code was enacted, in 1966 tax incentives for deforestation wereestablished and in 1967 the Brazilian Institute for Forestry (IBDF) was created. Thesethree events marked the definition of a new forest policy, which initiated large-scaledeforestation. The new Forest Code (Law n.º 4.771, from 1965) was somewhat moreinterventionist than the previous one. While the previous code provided practicallyunlimited rights to property owners, the new code subordinated property use tocollective interests, increasing the ability of the state to regulate it. The new Code alsoestablished two basic lines of policy: forest protection and forest development. Withrespect to the latter, it defined basic norms for the rational use of natural and plantedforests, defined and required forest replacement and established fiscal and financialincentives for maintaining forest coverage. Regarding protection, the Codeestablished a new kind of protection area -- “permanent preservation forests --established requirements that a percentage of each property be preserved -- known as

9

“legal reserves”-- defined “Areas of Permanent Protection” or APP -- such asbordering water bodies -- disciplined the use of fire and expanded monitoringmechanisms. It also defined other types of protection areas: National, State and LocalParks; National, State and Local Forests; and Biological Reserves.

The APP and the Legal Reserve would turn out to be particularly important. The APPprotects the vegetation around ecologically sensitive lakes and rivers. In addition topreventing erosion and sedimentation of water bodies, the APP provides habitatnecessary for the survival of flora and fauna and creates an ecological corridorbetween protected areas.

During the 70s, another actor began to influence environmental policies: theenvironmental movement. In the military government responded in 1973 with thecreation of the Special Secretariat of the Environment – SEMA, a year after theStockholm conference. The new agency was responsible for creating the newprotected areas.

During the 1970s, the contradictions in federal forest policy became clear. If, on onehand, the government demonstrated concern for the environmental issue on anotherhand, it promoted the expansion of the agricultural frontier and the occupation of theAmazon at any price.

In the early 1980s, the National Environment Policy (Law nº 6.938, of August, 1981)was enacted. This new policy instituted the National System of Environment –SISNAMA and the National Environment Council – CONAMA. This council hassubstantial deliberative powers, and includes state and local representatives from thegovernment, private sector, environmental NGOs and workers. Since its creation,CONAMA, together with similar state councils, has become a true fortress in thedefense of the environment. It is responsible, among other things, for approvingfederal norms that fill in the gaps in the legal framework. For example, CONAMAhas been active in regulating environmental licensing and environmental impactassessment studies.

In 1988, the new Brazilian Federal Constitution affirmed the relationship betweensocial and economic development and environment quality. In response toconstitutional requirements, the “Our Nature Program” was created in 1988. With aclear conservationist vision, this Program emphasized forest protection more thandevelopment. In the same year, fiscal incentives to deforestation were eliminated and,in the following year, a new environmental agency, the Brazilian Institute ofEnvironment and Renewable Natural Resources – IBAMA -- was created by joiningtogether the IBDF and two other existing agencies.

By hosting the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, in 1992(Rio-92), and by ratifying the signature of the Convention on Biological Diversity,Brazil reaffirmed its constitutional commitment to protecting biodiversity and thenation’s genetic patrimony. These events gave new impetus to environmentalprotection in the country. Most agree that the UN Conference had tremendous impacton the Brazilian population’s environmental consciousness.

Chapter 11 of the Agenda 21, the document that resulted from Rio-92, was dedicatedto forest issues, addressing the multiple roles and functions of all types of forests,forest lands and regions covered by forests. The document made clear that currentpolicies, methods and mechanisms fail to effectively promote the sustainable multipleuses of forests– taking into account ecological, economic, social and cultural uses

10

trees, forests and forest areas. The Agenda 21 proposes that to solve these problems,government at the appropriate level should be supported by regional, sub-regionaland, when necessary, international organizations in the effort to increase institutionalcapacity, to promote multiple uses of forests, and to support sustainable developmentand environmental conservation. This should occur whenever possible throughcooperation and coordination. The Brazilian Agenda 21 presents the followingstrategies for natural resources management: promoting environmental planning forland and mineral resource use; fostering procedures to promote species protection andconservation; developing, proposing and improving scientific knowledge aboutbiodiversity; and establishing environmental quality controls that seek to protect anddiscipline natural resources use.

In 1998, a much stronger environmental law was enacted at the federal level in Brazil.The Environmental Crimes Law defines penal and administrative sanctions forconduct and activities that damage the environment. This law reaffirmed as crimesmost of the activities defined as illegal by the earlier Forest Code, while including alist of other activities that would also be criminalized, and imposing strict penalties.For example, the following activities were made illegal (among others): destroying ordamaging forests in permanent preservation areas; cutting trees without officialpermits; damaging protection areas; causing forest fires; producing, selling,transporting, or releasing gas balloons; extracting minerals in public forests;producing charcoal from hardwood; acquiring wood, firewood or coal without proofthat it was produced with a permit; hampering the natural regeneration of forests andthe others forms of vegetation; damaging ornamental plants; destroying or damagingthe vegetation fixer of dune and protective of mangrove; selling or using unlicensedchainsaws, etc.

In 2000, legislation instituting a national system of protected areas was enacted,establishing criteria and norms for the creation, implantation and management ofconservation areas. In the same year, the National Forest Program (PNF) wasestablished and was given high priority by the Federal Government. Its mission is topromote sustainable forestry development, conciliate exploitation with ecosystemprotection, as well as to make forestry policy compatible with other public policies.One of the program’s objectives is to promote reforestation, recover permanentprotection areas, repress illegal deforestation and predatory extraction of forestryresources, and prevent forest fires.

A bill is also currently under discussion in the National Congress that would allow forthe regulated private management of public forests. The bill seeks to reverse acommon situation in Brazil: the lack of legal regulation and monitoring capacity leadsto the effective privatization of public lands as land grabbers find ways to appropriateand occupy land illegally. The bill also seeks to guarantee state sovereignty over theseforests: the public forests would remains public, only allowing for concessions toprivate groups for managed use.

The Brazilian government has implemented other environmental protection programsthat include forest management aspects. The Brazilian Biome Conservation andRecuperation Program will promote the implantation of ecological corridors. TheProtected Areas Program seeks to create 25 million of hectares of protected areas. TheConservation, Sustainable Use and Recuperation of Biodiversity Program promotesthe protection of endangered fauna species. The Climactic Changes and EnvironmentProgram includes actions to promote the use of alternatives energy sources. The

11

Social and Environmental Development Program (PROAMBIENTE) focuses onfamily-based agricultural production. Some projects work directly with the Amazon,such as the Amazon Vigilance System– SIVAM, the Land Clearing DetectionSystem– DETER, and the Amazon Protection System– SIPAM.

5.- The Cerrado: land structure, conflicts and policies

5.1- The importance of the Cerrado and its preservation

With abundant biodiversity and watershed resources, the Cerrado is a biome of greatimportance for Brazil. In the "chapadas", high plateau, we can find the head waters ofthe main rivers of the Amazon Basin, the Prata Basin and the San Francisco Basin.Thus, with its plain relief and deep soil, the Cerrado presents itself as an importantreceiver, keeper and dispersor of water to the three main hydrographic basin of thecountry and all the negative impact to its environment might reflect to other Brazilianbiomes.

Like the Amazon basin, the Cerrado is a great source of biodiversity. Its 137threatened species include the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), a striking, long-legged beast that resembles a fox on stilts. And the sparse, scrubby vegetation featuresmore than 4,000 species that grow only here.

Studies made over the carbon hijack in the ecologic station of Aguas Emendadas, inBrasilia, concluded the Cerrado stricto sensu absorbs more carbon than it emits,presenting a 2 tons carbon storage capacity per hectare, two times the estimatecapacity in the Amazon Rainforest according to a similar study. Although it does notmean a consensus among experts, it is a possibility worth evaluating (WWF, 2000).

The plain relief in almost all its extension favors the use and expansion of mechanizedagriculture, which leads to a quick devastation of huge green areas. The speed of thedevastation becomes worrying since it may bring the Cerrado irreversible potentialimpacts.

According to comparatives studies with sattelite images made by Machado etal.(2004), 55% of the Cerrado has already been devastated or transformed by humanaction, which is equivalent to a 880,000 km2 area (almost 3 times the area devastatedin the Brazilian Amazon Forest). Moreover, the anual rates of devastation are alsohigher in the Cerrado: between 1970 and 1975, the average devastation in the regionwas 40,000 km2 per year – 1.8 times the Amazon devastation rate during the period1978-1988 (Klink & Moreira, 2002). The anual devastation rates vary between 22,000and 30,000 km2 per year (Machado et al., 2004a), which represent greater areas thanthe Amazon forest. As Klink highlights, these differences are connected in part to theway the Brazilian Florestal Code treats the differents biomes of Brazil: while in theCerrado only 20% of the agricultural properties are to be preserved, in the Amazonthis rate goes up to 80%.

Agriculture is one of the largest and most dynamic parts of Brazil’s economy, andthose working to save the Cerrado are unlikely to be able to slow or stop the sector’sexpansion. Just 2.2% of the Cerrado is protected, and it is losing ground faster thanthe Amazon rainforest to the north. At the current rate of loss, the ecosystem could be

12

gone by 2030, according to estimates by Conservation International in WashingtonDC.

In addition to environmental aspects, the Cerrado distinguishes itself by its socialrelevance, representing 1,445 Brazilian cities (IBGE, 2000). Several populationswhich depend on the Cerrado and know its huge variety.

5.2- Land Use Process and Agribusiness Expansion

The Cerrado comprehends an important strip of the political division of Brazil’sterritory, since it is seen in almost half of the federation states. Just its central portionextends itself through the states of Goiás, Tocantins, Mato Grosso do Sul, DistritoFederal, the west portion of Bahia, west of Minas Gerais and the southern portion ofMato Grosso (Figure 2).

Figure 2 – Cerrado localization and political administrative division– Brazil’s territory

Source: Klink, 2002

The Cerrado is known as the last land frontier of the Americas. It has become one ofthe world’s most productive grain producing regions. The region’s agricultural boomis based on a development strategy of large-scale mechanized farming. This modelhas resulted in remarkable growth of the sector, but has also caused intenseconcentration of wealth and land. Until only a few decades ago, food production inthe Cerrado was founded on family labor and the exploitation of more fertile lands for

13

grain production and extensive cattle-ranching. Large cattle ranching and agriculturalplantations coexisted with tiny subsistence plots that provided no more than the basicnecessities for rural families.

The ocupation of the Brazilian Cerrado by men has taken place thousands of yearsago, by civilizations that survived from hunting and extractivism. When theEuropeans arrived, several native tribes have already been practicing subsistenceagriculture. This anthropic model of exploitation was predominant until the middle ofthe XVIII century, when the European colonizers penetrated and started to establish inthe region for searching for precious minerals, especially gold, and Indians. At thistime, the process of environmental devastation has begun due to the foundation ofseveral cities with mineral exploitation purposes. By the end of the mining cycle, theregion became occupied by extensive cattle and also returned to the subsistenceagriculture, remaining considerably isolated from other Brazilian regions.

In the 1930’s, the building of the first railways injected a certain dynamic in theregion’s economy by providing means of trade among the Cerrado and moreurbanized regions of Brazil. In 1940, the Getúlio Vargas government initiated the firstproactive occupation policy in the region, with the creation of agricultural colonies inthe states of Goiás and Mato Grosso. Before 1940, the best lands had been destined tothe cultivation of rice, beans and corn fields, while the extensive plateaus,characterized by fields and small shrubbery, were destined to cattle-ranching and theextraction of wood, fruits and several species of medicinal plants (THEODORO,LEONARDOS e DUARTE, 2002).Beginning in the sixties, the Cerrado became abasic food supplier, specializing in rice production. Vast expanses of un-owned landbegan to be distributed or claimed, especially after the construction of Brasiliaincreased demand and access to the region.

However, it was only in the 1970s that a new agricultural development policy for theregion was initiated in earnest. In 1975 the federal government establishedPOLOCENTRO – the Cerrado Development Program. This program invested majorresources in infra-structure (construction of storage facilities, technical assistance andexpansion of the transportation system and of the energy network) and other activities(limestone extraction, reforestation). While these official development projects wereunderway, soybeans began to be cultivated in the region.

In the 70’s, another wave of colonization arrived in Central Brazil, supported by thegovernment, mainly formed by gauchos (people from Southern Brazil), in search ofbig properties at low prices. The new inhabitants, alongside bringing economicdevelopment to the central and north region, were also responsible for the devastationof huge areas of Amazon Rainforest and Cerrado, without any concern for theenvironment. With the government support, the region became a pole of attraction tocaboclo immigrants as well as men and women from the Northeast.

In 1980, two other major projects, PADAP – “Programa de Assentamento Dirigidodo Alto Paranaíba” and PRODECER – of the Japanese-Brazilian CooperationProgram for the Development of the Cerrado were initiated. These programscontributed to the development of an intensive production model in the Cerrado, withthe utilization of advanced technologies (intense mechanization, adapted seeds, accessto macronutrients).

Intensive production expanded when new technologies made soybean productionviable in lands with low fertility. This expansion was directly associated with the

14

growing precedence of a land-use model based on large properties. At least 1,200hectares were considered necessary for soybean production to be economically viable.The low price of land in the region combined with official incentives and thefavorable conditions of the market quickly made soybean the most profitable crop inthe region. In 1980, the Central West region was responsible for 20% of the nationalsoybean production. In 1990 that percentage was above 40% and in 2003 it reachedaround 60% (SALOMÃO, 2004).

Soybean cultivation occurs in the Cerrado predominantly on large plantations: 51.3%of farms are larger than 1,000 hectares; the average farm size is 2,114 hectares; 31.3%of farms are between 1,001 and 3,000 hectares in size. About half of the producersown their own farms (WEHMANN & DUARTE, 2002).

According to what was mentioned earlier, soybean has brought the concept ofagribusiness in Brazil and has launched the country in the international commoditiesmarket, becoming an important product in the country’s exportation guideline. Brazilis now the biggest exporter and the second bigger producer in the world, consideringthe three sorts of the product – grain, bran and oil – (Figures 3, 4 and 5). This increasewas reached due to the expansion of new agriculturist frontier especially in Center-West region.

Figure 3: Worldwide soybean exportation (2002/2003)

Source: FAOSTAT, in Cadier (2004)

Thus, nowadays, soybean is the main agricultural product of the country and still hasa considerable growth capacity. “Brazil is considered the country with greatestagricultural potential of the world with a capacity ranging from 110 to 145 millionhectares for growing soybean (FRANÇA NETO, 2004). It is clear that these numbersconsider remaining areas of cerrado, which still occur in the Center-West and Northregion of the country.

Estados Unidos

45%

Argentina15%

Outros Países 3%

Brasil33%

Paraguai4%

15

Figure 4: Evolution of worldwide soybean production: the main producercountries (1986 – 2002)

Fonte: FAOSTAT, in Cadier (2004

Figure 5: Brazilian soybean exportation (grain, bran and oil)

Fonte: CONAB(2003), in Cadier(2004)

5.3 – Socioenvironmental Impacts of Agribusiness in the Cerrado

If, on one hand, the agricultural production (with emphasis in soybean) and the cattlebring economic and financial benefits to the country and producers, increasingconsiderably the exportation of soybean end meat, on the other hand the devastation

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

80,000

90,000

1986/87

1987/88

1988/891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002

anos

mil

T

EUA

BRASIL

ARGENTINA

CHINA

ÍNDIA

0

5,000,000

10,000,000

15,000,000

20,000,000

25,000,000

30,000,000

35,000,000

40,000,000

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

em t

Total exportaçõesbrasileiras de soja

Grãos

Farelo

Óleo

16

keep growing in the Cerrado, causing severe environmental damages, other thenaffecting the region’s working class.

Privileging large scale, technologically and energetically intensive and sociallyexclusionary production has raised new problems. This model neglects environmentalconsequences. For small producers, that have great difficulty in participating in theincreasingly competitive market, the super-exploitation of the natural resources hasbecome the only way to compensate for the technical fragility of the productionprocess (IBAMA, 2002).

From the ecological point of view, irreparable harm can result. The environmentalimpacts include deforestation, including of riverside vegetation, essential forprotection of water resources; indiscriminate exploitation of flora and fauna; abusiveuse of pesticides and fertilizers in agriculture and of mercury in gold mining,contributing to soil and water contamination; loss of springs and other water sources;and others. The process of soil erosion and the sedimentation of rivers and other waterbodies are continuous, reducing water flows and affecting biodiversity. In addition tothese problems we have the construction of hydroelectric dams and the expansion ofurban areas. Water shortages are also a risk, since the humid Cerrado ecosystems playa particularly important role in the recharging the regional aquifer and in producingthe headwaters of several of Brazil’s largest river basins.

Another aspect of transforming land use in the Cerrado region is acceleratedurbanization. In only three decades, the urban population of the Center-West Regionof Brazil increased by 780%. The process has been disorderly, and has also lead bothto environmental degradation and to unequal distribution of the profits and benefits ofeconomic growth. Urbanization results both from the “rural exodus” – migration fromthe interior that results from land concentration and from the inability of the dynamicagricultural sector to absorb local labor – and from migration from other regions ofthe country.

This development model has generated, besides environmental devastation, a processof social exclusion of the people who lie in the natural resources for their materialbasis for living, which is generating conflicts filled with several economic, social,cultural and environmental human rights violations, which are connected to:environmental crimes; slave work; violence and menaces to physical integrity;gender, race and ethnic discrimination; obstacles to democratic political participation;difficult access to justice and the public management. The most fragile layers ofsociety receive the greatest amount of damage provoked by an unequal model ofappropriation of natural resources.

The indigenous people, the quilombolas and the small agricultural producers are themain victims of the negative impacts of agribusiness and recently by the building ofnew dams, as well as hydroways which projects, highly impactful in terms ofenvironment, are being done with no regard to the communities who most directlywill have their lives affected. Different ways of expropriation of natural goods havebeen following these economic activities, such as: invasions and illegal selling ofproperties, devastations, flooding of huge agriculture areas.

17

5.4 The main social actors and their conflicts

To understand the origins of the social dilemmas and political contradictions betweenthe actors involved in agribusiness development, it is necessary to identify the variousactors and their interactions.

According to Whyte (WWF) the case of soybean expansion is an exemplary situationfeaturing a multi-scale social dilemma. We could identify three major agents oractors: first, the private sector, which encompasses all the people involved in soybeanproduction; second, public institutions; and third, local civil society, which includesmost of the people who are not involved in soybean production.

5.4.1. The private sector

The private sector needs to use or eliminate local natural capital to produce soybean.It does not internalize the negative costs of its actions, and thus it expands itsactivities at the expanse of the local civil society’s welfare.

The organization of the soybean production in the cerrado is divided between the bigagribusiness and the small agriculturists who due to the scale economy becomedependent of the big producers that purchase their harvested grains. Meanwhile, thesecompanies receive from the big soybean producers loans which costs they could notafford should they had to make use of bank financing themselves. Therefore, thesmall agriculturists become directly dependent on them.

Inside this structure, the “Amaggi Exportação e Importação Limitada” of the AndréMaggi Group, located in Rondonópolis, state of Mato Grosso, should be highlighted.The company is receiveing since 2002 loans of entities such as the IFC (InternationalFinance Corporation) of Rodobank, Holland, and other level 3 credit institutions.Alongside Amaggi, big agribusiness companies as Bunge, ADM and Cargill alsooperate in the region.

Bunge, international company, with 11,000 employees and over 300 facilitiesincluding factories, ports, distribution centers and storehouses, is installed in 16Brazilian states2.

ADM (Archer Daniels Midland Company) is one of the biggest agriculturecorporations of the world in the processing of soybean, wheat, corn and cocoa. ADMis in the Brazilian market since 1997, having acquired soybean and derivatesprocessing units from Sadia and took charge of the commercialization and distributionof the soybean oils of the Sadia, Corcovado and Concordia brands. It owns sixsoybean processing factories in the most important producing regions of Brazil, withtwo fertilizer units in Catalao, state of Goias, and in Rondonopolis, state of MatoGrosso.

These multinational firms clearly control the soybean chain from the supply of inputsto soybean crushing activity in the consumer countries. In the past few years, we have

2 http://www.bunge.com.br/shared/files/campo/BNC11marc.pdf.

18

observed a consolidation and internationalization process. Most of them have boughtBrazilian industrial concerns. They do not only have a major role in Brazil. Forinstance, ADM stocks and crushes seed in Brazil, but also crushes it in Europe. Thethree bigger American firms control 80% of European crushing (DROS J.W.V. &GELDER J.M., 2002).

5.4.2 The public institutions

The state’s role has been to step in to mitigate damage that one set of actors imposeson others, or upon the commons. The public institutions could help achieve a goodsocial equilibrium if they represented the interests of all the local communities .However, their strong collusion with the private sector and their ability to obtainbenefits at higher levels (federal) lead them to help the private sector’s expansionarystrategy and deny the effects of this on the rest of the locals.

The action of the state seems to be contradictory. As points out O’Rourke (2004)“driven by inderlying incentives, states will almost never strictly regulate industrialfirms, and even when the state does regulate, it is with significant constraints”.According to Bickel (2003) that developed cases studies of the negative impact ofsoybean production and expanding cultivation on human and nature in the Cerrado ,the action of the government has been to allocate scarce public resources to aninfrastructure facilitating large-scale mechanized agriculture resulting in less publicmoney being available for social services like education and basic health care.

In addition, the government has adopted licensing as a way to control the environmentimpacts, demanding an obligatory environmental impact assessment (EIA) forplantations greater than 1,000 hectares in size. However, some producers virtuallysub-divide their farms to avoid the expense of an EIA. The EIA is difficult to apply asit has "too many details hindering production". Thus, under a flexible interpretation ofregulations, statements are often formally issued saying vast plantations are harmlessalthough there is uncertainty about their ecological impact.

Another strategy used by the public institutions is the creation, implantation andmanagement of conservation areas. These spaces are destined to the protection of theenvironment, thus the exploration of natural resources is forbidden or controlled by aspecific legislation. The Conservation units are divided in two types: Full ProtectionUnits (National Park – PARNA, Biologic Reserve – REBIO, Ecologic Reserve –RESEC, Wild Life Refuge – RVS and Ecologic Station – EE) and Sustainable UseUnits (Environment Protection Area – APA, Extraction Reserve – RESEX, NationalForest – FLONA and Relevant Environmental Interest Area – ARIE). Today there are38 Federal Conservation Units in the Cerrado, which correspond to 2,42 % (48,510Km2) of its total area, of which 18 are Full Protection Conservation Units (33,002Km2).

In spite of the inumerous attempts, the region does not have any extractive reserve(Figure 6), one of the most important sorts of protection units for it preserves spacesused by local people, whose survival relies on extracting and, in addition to thesubsistence agriculture and cattle of small size animals, having as basic principles theprotection of the culture and way of life of these people, besides assuring sustainableuse of the unit’s natural resources. This type of conservation unit was brought up by

19

the rubber boss (seringalista) and union leader Chico Mendes, murdered in Decemberof 1989.

Figure 6: Distribution of Extractive reserve in Brazil

Source: IBAMA, 2005

As we have shown, the impact of economic growth on Brazil’s ecossystems haveresulted in a loss of forest cover. The oldest case that illustrates the process is the oneof Mata Atlantica, explored for centuries and today confined to less than 7% of itsoriginal size. The most famous case is the one of Amazon, from which more than15% of its area have been devastated. Emblematic is the case of Cerrado, with morethan 50% of its original area completely occupied by productive activities.Emblematic because, among other reasons, while Amazon, Mata Atlântica, Pantanaland Caatinga are regarded by government programs, there is not one singlegovernment strategy specially oriented for the sustainability of the Cerrado. While theAmazon possess 76.1% of the percentage conservation units area as full protection,the Cerrado owns just 13.9% in this condition (Figure 7).

20

Figure 7: – Percentage distribution of full protection conservation units area, by

biomes – Brazil, 2003

Source: http://www2.ibama.gov.br/unidades/geralucs/estat/index.htm.

Now in discussion in the Ministry of Environment stream the “Sustainable CerradoProject”, prepared by the Workgroup of the Cerrado Biome, established by ministerMarina Silva, through the “Portaria nº 361” in the 12th September of 2003, whoseinitiative is a joint effort by the Government of Brazil, the Global EnvironmentalFund –GEF and the World Bank to support the conservation and sustainabledevelopment of the Cerrado biome in central Brazil. .The project’s global objective isto ensure that globally significant biodiversity is maintained, in priority regions of theCerrado Biome, considering both production landscape and in protected areas withoutnegatively impacting the traditional communities, through the establishment of keypolicies, biological corridors, promotion of sustainable use of Cerrado resources andsustainable agricultural practices.

It is also worth highlighting, in the public institution stream, the role of the PublicAttorney’s Office (Ministerio Publico), which according to Alexandre (2003) hasbeen calling to itself, as an organ interested in the defense of social constitutionalrights, the responsability to act as an interlocutor between civil society and thejudiciary power in several cases of socioenvironmental conflicts. Thus, the PublicAttorney’s office expresses important shifts in course on the national political culture.As a State’s institution that used to exercise (and still does) a criminal function,nowadays undoubtedly is gaining growing legitimacy among sectors of the societywhich protested against it, especially since the 1980’s, when the Civil Action Law hasemerged as instrument created by the same Public Attorney’s Office (MinisterioPublico), to act as regulator of socioenvironmental conflicts.

4.3. Traditional Communities and Civil Society Organizations

Nowadays, the cerrado population is formed basically by farmers and their workers,family agriculturists and peasant, rural workes without land, “quilombolas”(descendents of old runaway slaves), indigenous people, geraizeiros (inhabitants of

21

the northern portion of Minas Gerais that, in the 70’s and 80’s worked in theeucalyptus reforestation), riversiders, fishermen, babaçu coconut breakers, goldminers, catingueiros (inhabitants of the caatingas of northeastern Brazil, rigid climaticzone with periodic rain scarcity), vazanteiros3 and gauchos.

These populations don’t even find land security. Agriextractors, such as the ones wholive in southern Maranhão, the geraizeiros in northern Minas Gerais, the rural workersof western Bahia, even the quilombolas of Chapada dos Veadeiros, get little effectivesocial protection. The same can be said of the indigenous communities in the region,highly affected by the modernization process that took place in central Brazil. Poorlyannounced, the genocide of indigenous ethnies in the Cerrado was short in time butperverse in numbers. The most representative case is probably the state of Goiás. Theremaining communities are very few Ava-Canoeiro, not more than 300 Karaja.

Pressured by the velocity that the Cerrado’s landscape is changing into agricultureareas, the Brazilian society is starting to discuss strategies aiming at its conservation.Hence, Cerrado Network was created, focused in exchanging experiences andinformation among institutions in order to balance social equality, environmentconservation and development. The 72 member entities of Cerrado Network interactwith over 300 other organizations to gather efforts together, formulate public policies,and create a new space for participation and democracy, working for socio-environmental causes and therefore promoting sustainable development in theCerrado. These organizations represent rural workers, extractivists, nativepopulations, quilombolas, fishermen or are intermediary technical NGOs. They haveplayed an important role in the resolution of conflicts in the region, although this rolehas yet to be measured.

One of the main actions of Cerrado Network has been the organization of regionalmeetings, offering opportunities for communities to inspire themselves byacknowledging sustainable ways of production experiences, commercialization andsocial organization, which automatically spread. These regional meetings also permitthe definition of political decisions, recommendations and orientations to thesustainable use of Cerrado, establishing then communication channels with the publicpowers.Nowadays the Cerrado Network is recognized as na important fórum fordiscussion, having been the mentor of the National Program for Conservation andSustainable Use of the Cerrado – Programa Cerrado Sustentável, delivered to ministerMarina Silva on the September 10th, 2004.

According to the document “The survival of Cerrados and its people: subsides for theArticulation of Agriextractivism of Cerrado Network for formulating a policy for theCerrado biome and its transition areas”, the basic propositions for a socio-environmental sustainability policy in the Cerrado consist of: acknowledgement ofCerrado as a National Patrimony; and creating, in the Ministry of the Environment, aSecretary of the Cerrado, in reference to the already existing Coordination Secretaryof the Amazon, as an articulating instance for public policies concerning the biome.

3 Leaseholders of the DNOCS – National Department of Oeuvres against Droughts – due to a contractof use of a portion of land on the hydrographic basin, usually a big public water reservoir, oftenlymanaged by the DNOCS.

22

5.4.4- Socioenvironmental conflicts in Brazilian Cerrado

The need for environment protection versus the way of life of modern society bringsup an intense social conflict. Accordingly, this conflict carries within it severalinterests, whether they spread, collective or individual. The conflicts are originated bymultiple factors, such as irregular land occupation, environmental problems caused bybig constructions or the implantation of extensive agriculture (soybean, eucalyptus) orcattle, invasion of indigenous or quilombolas lands by grabbers and squaters,implantation of Conservation Units as, for instance, National Parks, IndigenousReserves, among others.

The expansion of agribusiness in the biome Cerrado seems to be the source of a bigset of socioenvironmental conflicts, for in this biome several remaining indigenoustribes, quilombolas communities are located, alongside with small farmers who sufferthe consequences of the environmental damage caused by big enterprises andinfrastructure required for development such as the building of hydroeletric dams,highways, hydroways etc.

According to Leroy (2005), “different forms of expropriation of natural goods havebeen following the development of these economic activities: land invasion,devastations, flooding of great fertile lands. Environmental crimes, slave work andviolence complete this framework of human rights violations”. Some of the mostserious issues doesn’t appear as a conflict, but nevertheless are present, as the silentrural exodus.

This process of unsustainable usage of the territory brings direct and immediatedamages to thousands of families who depend on the traditional productive activities,not only by losing their feeding, work and income sources, but also by detachingthemselves from the land, being thrown out of it, and facing then several healthproblems, not to mention the weakening of their culture.

Day after day the media presents agribusiness as a synonym for progress anddevelopment, spreading its conquests and remarkable performance in the Brazilianeconomy. Agribusiness is presented as the responsible for the constant excess(superavit) on the trade balance. All other sorts of rural work are seen as ancient andovercame.

Although farmers and other parties interested in modern agriculture argue thatsoybean cultivation would bring development, employment and income, thesearguments often ignore the irreversible negative impact of cultivation.

Although the mechanizations of agriculture implies that new jobs will be created inassociated service sectors (sale of pesticides and fertilizers, farm machines, repair andmaintenance, banks), there is actually little employment benefit for the localpopulation.

After temporary labor-intensive land clearing is finished, on average only one workerper 167-200 hectares of soybeans is permanently employed. The new Bunge soy millin Uruçuí/Piaui claimed it would create 500 direct and 10,000 indirect jobs, but only70 persons were employed in August 2003, mainly technicians and engineers broughtin from southern Brazil. The local population finds only temporary work as unskilledlabour (Bickel, 2003).

23

The constitutional right for work is still disrespected violently by the subjection of theworker to conditions similar to slavery. The agribusiness has been managing to mixthe most advanced technologies to the most ancient work relations

In Mato Grosso, reports of slave work are frequent. “In 2002, 723 cases of slaverywere registered on farms in Mato Grosso; a shortage of staff in the ministry oflabour's mobile detection team means that a much higher number of cases goesunreported. Fazenda Getúlio Vargas near Sorriso is an example. Two former slavesreported they had been forced to remove roots after deforestation, plant soybeans,corn and rice, and apply fertilisers and pesticides without wearing protective gear.Workers laboured from 3 a.m. until 8 p.m., in planting seasons until midnight, sevendays a week. Nutrition was insufficient and labourers were charged excessively fordaily necessities. Workers were "housed" under flimsy black plastic covers in a field,without sanitation and health care, drinking water came from a river. Promisedsalaries were not paid” (Bickel, 2003).

Agribusiness is responsible for the use of agrochemicals in the highest scale.Pesticides pollute drinking water and the environment. In particular, sprayingpesticides by aircraft disseminates active ingredients over much larger areas thanintended72. Small farmers’ organic plantations in Lucas do Rio Verde have beenaccidentally sprayed. Pesticides are very toxic in the short and long term,accumulating in humans and the environment73. Insecticides affect not only harmfulpests but also beneficial insects, resulting in the increasing instability of theecosystem and requiring ever more pesticide application. The Movimento pelapreservação dos ríos Tocantins e Araguaia, a movement to preserve the Araguaia andTocantins rivers in one of the current soy expansion areas, estimates that around220,000 people in Brazil die each year due to pesticides (Bickel, 2003).

Besides, the overuse of agrochemicals provokes environmental unbalance. Smallproducers, surrounded by huge plantation areas, feel a considerable increase in theamount of plagues, since they tend to migrate to non-poisoned lands.

Agribusiness, in addition to directly influence the right to property, work and health,is also responsible for a good part of rural conflicts and violence. “In 2003, theCenter-West region takes the lead in terms of the number of people involved inconflicts, 26.09% of the total, and on the number of people evicted by the Judiciary,35.7% of the total. These numbers become even more dramatic if they are connectedto the rural population of each state. In Mato Grosso, for instance, the data showsastonishing 40.8% of its rural population involved in conflicts, 210,795 people and anamount equivalent to 6.2% of the state population are facing eviction, 32,275 people.A war operation, says professor Carlos Walter. In relation to the violence of theprivate sector, Mato Grosso, with 9 people murdered, also holds the highest index ofrelative violence, 7.6. Pará, with 33 murders, holds a relative index of 6.9.”(CANUTO, 2004).

Agribusiness also attacks violently the environment and the rich biodiversity isdestroyed. Devastation increases fast, especially in certain areas of the Legal Amazonand in Cerrado areas.

24

The state of Mato Grosso has leaded the devastation in 2002 with 795,000 hectares.Over the last 20 years, 30 million hectares were devastated for agribusiness. Thisrepresents almost half of the 75 million hectares of forest, cerrados, or transition areasexistent in Mato Grosso on the 80’s, or a third of the states territory. Besides, the stateof Mato Grosso was responsible for 59% (11,585) of the national forests fires(19,501) in july 2003 (CANUTO, 2004

The Ministry of Environment has presented a balance revealing that in 2002, theagricultural area of the Amazon has increased 1.1 million hectares, of which 70% isdue to the expansion of soybean areas, followed by corn plantations, rice and coffee.Ironically, Mato Grosso’s governor, Blairo Maggi, who is also the biggest individualsoybean producer in the world, recommended the Minister of Environment, MarinaSilva, “not to be impressed” with those numbers of devastation of the Amazon.“These 24 thousand km2 (2.4 million hectares) represent absolutely nothing in termsof Amazon. This region is a continent which can fit all countries of Europe”, he says(CANUTO, 2004).

To make matters worse, the agrarian issue, which surrounds most of thesocioenvironmental conflicts occured in the Cerrado is quite complex, with millionsof hectares of property of the State however illegally occupied by huge farms whichthe INCRA tries progressively get them back judicially. This land confusion makessome areas owned by more than one person.

All this situation generates a great variety of conflicts involving many actors, such as:

• Infrastructureless encampments

Actors: Government, encampmented

Conflict: The government creates the encampments, but does not provideneither infrastructure, nor conditions/incentives to encamped to make theirland productive.

The encamped, due to the poor life conditions, migrate of the encampmentsand a process of demoralization of the Agrarian Reform starts.

• Slave Work

Actors: big land owners, rural workers, government

Conflict: the ongoing practice of slave work in the devastation fronts and inthe plantations. According to Leroy (2005), the federal government recognizedin 2004 the existence of at least 25 thousand people in these conditions, a veryoptimistic number though. Only in 2003, the action of several spheres of theState led to the release of 4,970 workers, but misery and the lack ofalternatives results into a very high rate of relapse: freed workers fall onceagain on slave work. The government punishes, tickets, and neverthelessrelapses keep happening.

25

• Building of hydroelectric plant

Actors: entrepreneurs, flooded areas owners, government, NGO’s (MAB –Movement of the affected by the building of dams)

Conflict: dams destined to produce energy are built in areas where traditionalgroups of people develop their economic and sociocultural activities, such asagriculture, fishing, goldwashing and extractivism, religious parties etc.Innumerous communities are affected, but the entrepreneurs generallyrecognize a smaller number to relocate and indemnify. The encampmentsdon’t answer the needs of the communities, especially concerning publicservices and communitarian equipments, besides disregarding the traditionsthat rule the social organization, whether it is related to religion, culture, landpossession, production or extrativism.

On the dam’s downstream, the fishermen families are deeply affected by thescarcity and poor quality of the fishes, bringing as a result, sometimes,starvation.

Besides material and psychological losses, the negative consequences areheightened by the social disorganization created by the forced relocation. Thisrelocation provokes a disequilibrium in the way how communities organizethemselves and keep their production, creates conflicts by separating groupswho interacted in the solving of problems, tear several generations familiesapart, not to mention generating several adaptation difficulties to the newenvironment.

• Granting of title for quilombola’s lands

Actors: quilombolas, government, squaters, judiciary power

Conflict: The government recongnizes and grants the title of possession of acertain area for a specific quilombola community (African descendentscommunity). However, this land is already occupied by farmers or squarterswho along the years have been expelling the quilombolas whether by judicialmaneuvers or by threatens, with the purpose to expand the limits of theirlands.

Some families have left the area and move out to the big city’s suburbs, wherethey usually live in subhuman conditions. Other families resist and stay in thearea, but in poor conditions, on encampments located in litigious areas, findingtrouble or simply not finding a way to exercise the activities needed for theirsustenance.

In order to minimize conflicts, the government intervenes sometimes byrenting farms in the quilombo’s area to allocate some families. However, someof these families protest for considering that the area is their property.

The land issue ends up opening spaces for the granting of thresholds by thejudiciary, in lawsuit held by the farmers focusing in expelling the quilombolasof their land, who even though having the right for the area, end up sufferingfrom material and moral damage when evicted of their own ground by thepolice.

26

• Project for encampment of landless workers

Actors: rural workers, government, farmers, judiciary power, NGO’s (MST –Landless Workers Movement)

Conflict: The government, by the hands of INCRA, defines the States area forencampment of the landless workers. However this area is occupied by bigfarmers, forcing the government to set the encampments on the edges of theroads temporarily.

INCRA moves the lawsuit against the farmer, but the federal judge finds bestto await the quotation and plea of the guilty before analyzing the call foranticipated custody, admitting therefore the existence of improvements to bepaid for.

Thus, the landless who should already possess their land stay living insubhuman conditions, with no space for agriculture and suffering, especiallythe elderly and children, from several diseases. These people are deaththreatened by the inhabitants of nearby cities, who several times get togetherwith the large estate owners, adopting then a behavior full of prejudice.

• Indigenous land delimitation

Actors: indigenous communities, farmers, government, Catholic Church,judiciary power

Conflict: Indigenous lands are invaded by farmers who, with governmentalsupport and some branches of the Catholic Church promote their shift toanother areas, not without some life losses due to infectious diseases.

By the time Indians try to come back to their lands, they find all sorts ofresistance and end up installing themselves in poor encampments, sufferingfrom starvation and diseases, inflicting even more deaths.

• Creation or magnifying of Conservation Units

Actors: government, farmers, environmentalists, community associations,judiciary power.

Conflict: The government, by the hands of the Ministry of the Environment,fulfilling the will of some environmentalist groups or even regionalenvironmental organs, decides to create or magnify a Conservation Unit. Theland owners gather themselves in associations and protest, advocating thatthey were not heard, and therefore move lawsuit (judicial lawsuits). Thejudiciary power grants thresholds for the farmers, who can remain in theirareas. In some cases the government must go back and revoke the legal actionthat created or magnified the Conservation Unit.

5. Conclusion

This paper sought to present a general understanding of environmental governanceconditions taking place in the Brazilian Cerrado in order to subside the developmentof researches concerning “ecological modernization”. From the specificcharacteristics of the Cerrado, we have identified the main problems and

27

socioenvironmental impacts caused by the expansion of agribusiness, its conflicts andthe actors involved: private sector, public institutions, and civil society organizations.

To balance development and environment, the challenge seems to be research a modelof governance that hold potencial for “coproduction” of regulation with communities,state agencies and market dynamics , working together to balance economic andenvironmental goals.

As points out O’Rourke (2004), several broad theories frameworks are offered toexplain environmental regulation during development and to provide strategies foradvancing more sustainable development. One major area of research focuses on therole of the state in regulating economic activities through the development ofenvironmental standards and enforcement mechanisms, and points us to the need forbuilding strong environmental agencies with sanctioning powers.

Our analysis of state efforts to confront these problems shows that although therehave been advances, these have largely been limited to the creation of legal norms andregulations, unaccompanied by effective measures for enforcement. For example, theNational Environmental System – SISNAMA – is an extremely coherent legalframework for environmental management. Many of the institutions that operatewithin the system, however, are fragile and coordination among them is often weak.Problems have been especially intense in relation to implementation on the ground,where popular participation, local autonomy and stakeholder involvement wereexpected to operate best. Various evaluations since the UN Conference in Rio in 1992have shown that the main obstacle to disseminating the idea of sustainabledevelopment has been the fragility of governance mechanisms.

An another area of research focuses more on market dynamics that can motivateprivate sector to internalize environment costs and make investments in eco-efficientprocess. The data and information with respect to the companies that are on theCerrado’s agribusiness and that we could gather in this document can not make usassume anything about their socioenvironmental concerns in a moment which themarket pressures companies for social responsible behavior.

A third framework stresses the role of public participation in disciplining governmentagencies and enterprises. Although there have been some experiences in thatdirection, since the discussion over environment issues and sustainable developmentbecame global, there is still a debate over what are the most effective processes anddynamics that influence environment preservation.

Still, according to O’Rourke, each one of these theories has its applications. Thecommunity’s pressures may lead to influence government policies, the laws in courseon the Market can affect companies’ decisions on the direction of a more effectiveenvironmental behavior, as well as the capacity for the State to lead this process canbe strengthened.

In this context, having said that the management models in discussion today guide thedecision making process, whether in private enterprises or the public sector, to a moreshared system among stakeholders, adopting this process on the sphere ofenvironment issues seems to be of utmost importance to the solving ofsocioenvironmental conflicts.

With respect to brazilian Cerrado, we have highlighted the unsustainability of landuse and agriculture patterns, since it has became an important income source for the

28

Brazilian economy. Globalization has created new markets for agribusiness products.It has also been the context within which a new paradigm of sustainable developmenthas emerged that gives value to the Cerrado.

The Cerrado is not considered national patrimony – a status which the 1988 FederalConstitution gives to the other biomes – and it is widely perceived as having littleecological value. NGOs, political groups, international agencies and government havetherefore paid much less attention to the potential for sustainable development andlocal governance efforts in that biome. Promoting experiments in environmentalgovernance and increasing our knowledge about the Cerrado and ways to face itssocioenvironmental problems is therefore all the more urgent. Developing studiesabout “Green Governance” informed by the experiences of other regions andcountries can help us confront these environmental, social and economic challengestoday.

The communities are an important unit of analysis for environment and developmentdebates. Developing projects and researches focused on local communities might be away of understanding the interrelations among the several local actors and theirconnection to global processes, then being able to approach governance models. AsEvans (2001) points out, looking at communities focuses attention on the politics ofcollective action among households with connections to one another. Communitiesbuilt identities based on geography, history, and shared adversity. Their membersshare life chances. They are vulnerable to the degradation of the places to which theyare attached. Talking about communities enables us to connect livelihood struggles ofordinary citizens to issues of sustainability while retaining the critical insight thatthese are not simply individual battles but always have an element of collectivecontestation. Thus, it is necessary to identify more precisely the profile of thecommunities inserted in the Cerrado so we can develop researches in this sense.

Standing now in front of all the problems here posed, some questions must be raisedfor the development of researches on green governance in the Cerrado: What are thecriteria to identify and select the communities that should be researched? Where arelocated the conflicts and how to map them? What are the pleas of the actors involved?What are the means and strategies are being used by NGO’s to reach these pleas?What actions can be taken to strengthen these communities organization, aiming atthe fulfillment of their desires

The conduction of this sort of research can add a lot to the debate over the nature ofthe new environmental governance in the global South and whether the neoliberaleconomic policies are contradictory to civil society's demands for increasedparticipation in environmental policymaking.

29

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ACSELRAD, Henri. Conflitos ambientais no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: RelumeDumará, 2004. 294 p.

ALEXANDRE, Agripa Faria. Politicas de resolucao de conflitos socioambientaisno Brasil: o papel do Ministerio Publico e dos movimentos ambientalistas na Ilhade Santa Catarina. Florianopolis : Ed. Da UFSC, 2003.

BARBANTI JR., Olympio. Conflitos socioambientais: teorias e praticas.Departamento de Economia. Universidade Federal do Parana. Mimeo.

BECKER, Bertha e EGLER, Cláudio. Brasil: Nova potencia regional na economia -mundo. Rio de Janeiro: Bertrand Brasil, 1994.

BICKEL, Ulrike and DROS, Jan Maarten. The impacts of soybean on brazilianecosystems. WWF. Brasilia, 2003.

CADIER, Chloe. Estudo da dinâmica da cadeia da soja no Mato Grosso:estrutura, funcionamento e perspectivas de sustentabilidade. CIRAD/CDS – UnB.Brasília, 2004.

Comissão de Políticas de Desenvolvimento Sustentável e da Agenda Nacional.Agenda 21 Brasileira – ações prioritárias. 2002, 138p.

CANUTO, Antonio. Violencia e agressao aos direitos humanos na esteira doAgronegocio. 2004.

CUNHA, Ícaro. Conflito ambiental em águas costeiras: Relação porto-cidade noCanal de São Sebastião. Ambiente e Sociedade, jul./dez. 2003, vol. 6, n° 2, p. 83-98.ANPAAS/UNICAMP.

DELDUQUE, Maria Celia. Conflitos sócio-ambientais no Cerrado brasileiro: omeio ambiente na instância judiciária federal. Dissertação de Mestrado soborientacao do professor Luiz Fernando Macedo Bessa. Programa de Pós-Graduaçãostricto sensu em Planejamento e Gestão Ambiental, Universidade Católica de Brasília,Brasilia, 2005.

DROS J. M., VAN Gelder J. W. Corporate actors in the South American soyproduction chain”, World Wide Fund for Nature, Switzerland. 2002

DUARTE,L.M.G. & BRAGA, M;L.S.(orgs). Tristes Cerrados. Sociedade ebiodiversidade. Brasília, Paralelo 15,1998

EVANS, Peter. Livable cities: the politics of urban livelihood and sustainability.Berkeley : University of California Press, 2001.

FORSYTH, Tim. Critical Political Ecology. Routledge, New York : 2003.

FRANCA NETO, J. De B. Perspectivas futuras da cultura da soja no Brasil:producao, produtividade, expansao de area. In: III Congresso Brasileiro de Soja,proceedings. Foz do Iguacu, 1203-1209.

HANSON, Heather. Green Governance, Green Peace: Environmental Governance,Community Resource Management and Conflict Resolution: An AnnotatedBibliography. Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley,2005.

GODARD, Olivier. A gestão integrada dos recursos naturais e do meio ambiente:conceito, instituições e desafios de legitimação. In Gestão dos Recursos Naturais e

30

Desenvolvimento: Novos Desafios para a Pesquisa Ambiental. Paulo F. Vieira eJacques Weber (orgs). São Paulo: Cortez, 2000.

IBAMA. GEO Brazil 2002 – Environmental outlooks in Brazil. Brasília : IBAMAEditions, 2002. 440p.

IBGE. Atlas senso demografico. Rio de Janeiro : IBGE, 2000.

IBGE. Indicadores de desenvolvimento sustentavel: Brasil 2004. Rio de janeiro :IBGE, 2004.

ICV. Cerrado que te quero vivo! Produtos e meios de vida sustentáveis apoiadospelo Programa de Pequenos Projetos Ecossociais (PPP-Ecos). Instituto Centro deVida (ICV)/(PPP-Ecos)/Instituto sociedade, Populacao e Natureza (ISPN). Brasília,2005.

JEPSON, Wendy E. e BRANNSTROM, Christian. A case of contested ecologicalmodernisation: the governance of genetically modified crops in Brazil.Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 2005, volume 23, pages 295 ^310)

KLINK, C.A. &. MOREIRA A.G. 2002. Past and current human occupation andland-use. In: P.S. Oliveira & R.J. Marquis (eds.). The Cerrado of Brazil. Ecology andnatural history of a neotropical savanna. pp. 69-88. Columbia University Press, NewYork.

LEITE, Marcelo. Um Chico Mendes para Mato Grosso. Folha de Sao Paulo, 03 deoutubro de 2004.

LEROY, Jean-Pierre. Relatório da Missão ao Estado do Mato Grosso. ProjetoRelatores Nacionais em DhESC. Plataforma DhESC Brasil. Rio de Janeiro, 2005.

MACHADO, R.B., M.B. RAMOS NETO, P. PEREIRA, E. CALDAS, D.GONÇALVES, N. Santos, K. Tabor & M. Steininger. 2004. Estimativas de perdada área do Cerrado brasileiro. Conservation International do Brasil, Brasília.

MMA/PNUD. Agenda 21 brasileira – Bases para discussão. Brasília :MMA/PNUD, 2000. 196p.

MMA/PNUD. Agenda 21 brasileira – Resultado da consulta nacional. Brasília,MMA/PNUD, 2002. 144p.

O’ROURKE, Dara. Community-Driven Regulation: balancing development andthe environment in Vietnam. MIT Press. Cambrige, Massachusetts, London : 2004.

PACHECO et al (1992). Atores e conflitos em questoes ambientais urbanas. In:Espaco e Debates, Sao paulo, n. 35, citado em alonso, angela e Valeriano costa(2000). Por uma sociologia dos conflitos ambientias no Brasil. Mimeo, trabalhopreparado especialmente para o encontro do Grupo Meio ambiente eDesenvolvimento da Clacso - Rio de Janeiro, 22 e 23 de novembro de 2000.

PINTO, Maria Novaes (org.). Cerrado: caracterização, ocupação e perspectivas. 2ªedição. Brasília : Editora UnB. 1993. 681p.

SALOMÃO, Carmem Silvia Treuherz. Associar atividades ao cultivo da soja noestado do Mato Grosso, reduzindo seus gases e efeito estufa e agregando valor àcomunidade da região- Um novo Paradigma. Projeto de Pesquisa para o curso de

31

Mestrado do Centro de Desenvolvimento Sustentável da Universidade de Brasília, soborientação do Prof. RichardG. Pasquis 2004.

SENADO FEDERAL. Conferência das Nações Unidas sobre Meio Ambiente eDesenvolvimento: Agenda 21. Brasília : Senado Federal, 1996. 585p.

SILVA, Carlos Eduardo Mazzeto. O Cerrado-da-Mae-Joana. Jornal Estado deMinas, 20/09/2004. Agropecuario, p.02.

SONNENFELD, David A et alli. Social movements and ecological modernization:the transformation of pulp and paper manufacturing. Institute of InternationalStudies, University of California, Berkeley, 1999

SWIOKLO, M. T. Legislação florestal: evolução e avaliação. In: Anais do 6ºCongresso Florestal Brasileiro.1990. Vol. 1 (Trabalhos Convidados), pp. 53-58.

THEODORO, Suzi H., LEONARDOS Othon H. & DUARTE Laura Maria G.Cerrado o Celeiro Saqueado, in DUARTE L. M . THEODORO, S. (orgs.). Dilemasdo Cerrado: entre o ecologicamente (in)correto e o socialmente (in)justo. Rio deJaneiro: Garamond, 2002.

THÉRY, Hervé. Pesos e medidas da Amazônia. In: SAYAGO, Doris, TOURRAND,Jean François, BURSZTYN, Marcel (orgs.) . Amazônia: cenas e cenários, 2004).

UNESCO. Vegetação do Distrito Federal: tempo e espaço. 2ª ed. Brasília :UNESCO, 2002. 80p.

WEHMANN Magda Eva & DUARTE Laura Maria G. Sojicultor: agente detransformação nos cerrados brasileiros, in DUARTE L. M . THEODORO, S.(orgs.). Dilemas do Cerrado: entre o ecologicamente (in)correto e o socialmente(in)justo. Rio de Janeiro: Garamond, 2002.

Whyte, C. et alli. Soy Expansion in the Brazilian Amazon Region: A local and andGlobal Social Dilema, WWF –Brasil

WWF Brasil. Expansão Agrícola e Perda da biodiversidade no Cerrado: origenshistóricas e o papel do comércio internacional. Brasília : Color, 2000. 98p.