Colloquium “Bioeconomy and Sustainability Policies and Politics in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay”

On March 23rd, 2022, the SABio Interdisciplinary Colloquium “Bioeconomy and Sustainability Policies and Politics in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay” was held virtually, organized by Karen Siegel at the Institute of Political Science of the University of Münster. The two research groups of the SABio Project at the University of Münster and the University of Bonn as well as different members of the steering committee and scientific advisors of the project and some external guests from South America and Europe participated.

With the aim of discussing the policies and politics of bioeconomy and sustainability in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, the members of the research group in Political Science at the University of Münster gave a presentation of their research in each of the countries followed by a discussion and Q+A with the audience.

 

Guilherme de Queiroz-Stein presented part of his ongoing research on a bioeconomy based on biodiversity in Brazil. His research objective is to identify the economic potential of Brazilian biodiversity, the different conceptions regarding the development of this bioeconomy, and the possible associated risks. The analysis identified that governmental actors, civil society, academia, and national industry had presented different concepts on how to develop the Brazilian bioeconomy, converging in the search for alternatives to the hegemonic bioeconomy, based on soybean, corn, and sugarcane monocultures. In fact, he identified significant developments in sectors such as food, cosmetics, and medicines and future potentials linked to bioenergy, payment for environmental services, and ecotourism.

Daniel Kefeli presented his co-authored paper with Karen Siegel, Lucía Pittaluga and Thomas Dietz. They examine the main drivers and dynamics of environmental policy integration in Uruguay during three periods of the recent Uruguayan history between 1990 and 2020, reflecting the most significant changes in the level of policy integration. Following the framework developed by Candel and Biesbroek, they demonstrate the continuous progress in policy integration over the 30 years in the Uruguayan forestry sector.

Melisa Deciancio presented her paper on the role of the state in promoting the Argentine bioeconomy, focusing on the extent to which the state, through the promotion of various initiatives, contributed to the development of bioeconomy projects in Argentina. To answer this question, the paper examines two cases of the bioeconomy in Argentina: biorefineries and GM crops technologies. From the analysis of policies and actors involved in both projects, she states that the state has played an active role in accompanying the private sector in promoting the bioeconomy and that, despite ideological divergences, the policies designed demonstrate the continuity between the different governments.

 

For more information, please see the colloquium programme.