The Shanghai Connection: Governing the Sustainability Impacts of Brazilian Agri-exports to China

Abstract

Since the turn of the millennium, Brazilian agricultural exports to China have undergone an exponential growth trend. As the two countries have become closely interlocked in a transborder vegetable and animal protein complex, Brazil has become key to Chinese food security, while export revenues from China now play an important role within the Brazilian economy. However, beyond substantial the flows of money and goods between the two countries, Brazilian agricultural agri-exports have also come to embody significant socio-environmental impacts, in the form of deforestation and biodiversity loss. This is not least the case in Brazilian agricultural frontier regions, where land conflicts often also have been associated with agricultural expansion. This situation has led to a need for robust governance solutions to confront the socio-environmental challenges arising from this interdependence. In this chapter, we scrutinize existing governance mechanisms at both the domestic, bilateral, and transnational levels in order to assess how current regulatory arrangements address these issues. We conclude by identifying a clear sustainability governance deficit for trade flows of soy and beef from Brazil to China and by delineating potential pathways for solutions within this field.