Combining socioeconomic development with environmental governance in the Brazilian Amazon: the Mato Grosso agricultural frontier at a tipping point

Damien Arvor (), Marion Daugeard (), Isabelle Tritsch (), Neli Aparecida Mello-Thery (), Hervé Thery () and Vincent Dubreuil ()
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Damien Arvor: Université Rennes 2
Marion Daugeard: UMR 7227 CNRS/Université Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle/PRES Sorbonne Paris Cité
Isabelle Tritsch: UMR 7227 CNRS/Université Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle/PRES Sorbonne Paris Cité
Neli Aparecida Mello-Thery: Universidade de São Paulo
Hervé Thery: UMR 7227 CNRS/Université Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle/PRES Sorbonne Paris Cité
Vincent Dubreuil: Universidade de São Paulo

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2018, vol. 20, issue 1, No 1, 22 pages

Abstract: Abstract Agricultural landscapes of the southern Brazilian Amazon are the result of 80 years of governmental policies to install a powerful agricultural sector. Yet, this rapid expansion raised important environmental considerations especially with regard to deforestation. The agricultural frontier is thus now facing a huge challenge: to combine socioeconomic development with environmental conservation in the context of frontier expansion. Based on a conceptual model of the agricultural frontier, we review historical changes in environmental and development policies in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso and emphasize their ambivalent trend to both encourage and control the progress of the frontier. We then extend this model with an integration stage where environmental governance and economic development evolve from competing to complementary concepts. At this stage, the efforts to slow down deforestation are accompanied with programs to promote new agricultural practices and support industrialization. Finally, we put into perspective this recent evolution with regard to the underlying reasons for changing the agricultural model, thus considering the agricultural frontier to be at a tipping point where first positive results need to be confirmed in spite of an unstable economic and political situation.

Keywords: Brazilian Amazon; Mato Grosso; Agricultural frontier; Public policies; Environmental governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10668-016-9889-1

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