From Negotiations to Adjustment: Brazil

Brazil is now the world’s largest producer and exporter of sugar. In 2003, it produced 26.4 billion metric tons and exported 13.3 billion metric tons. It is predicted that the area of sugar cultivation will have to expand by 75 percent in ten years to keep up with accelerating demand. Demand may spike even further as the European Union and United States reform their subsidized domestic sugar industries, and as high oil prices spur global demand for biofuels like sugar-based ethanol.

One of the most likely areas for expansion is the cerrado, a vast region of grasslands and savannah in southeastern Brazil that constitutes a unique and seriously threatened ecosystem. The From Negotiations to Adjustment project seeks to identify the risks of unplanned expansion and poor agricultural practices in terms of water pollution, soil erosion, and loss of biodiversity, and to highlight better practices and policies that discourage the conversion of high-value conservation areas. Project partners are WWF Brazil, WWF MPO, and the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council (IPC).

A comprehensive study on the likely social and environmental impacts of sugar cane expansion in Brazil was presented at a major workshop in Sao Paulo in March 2008. The government, producer groups, NGOs, and the financial sector discussed key issues related to sugar cane expansion, biofuels production, land-use planning and policy, and sustainability.