Brazil Balances Agricultural and Environmental Priorities
Date of Publication
1-1-2023 12:00 AM
Security Theme
Economic Stability
Keywords
Economics and Globalization, Trade and Development, Environment, Latin America, Europe, Brazil, economic stability
Description
In a new paper, Richard Sanders, a Global Fellow in the Wilson Center’s Canada Institute and a former senior US diplomat, writes about Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s challenges balancing opportunities and demands in the agricultural sector with his administration’s ambitious environmental commitments. For Brazil, a strong farm sector is economically vital, but in trying to assure environmentally sustainable practices, Lula is confronting an influential agro-industrial lobby and an unsupportive Congress. Among the consequences is the stalled EU-Mercosur trade talks, at an impasse due in part to European concerns over agricultural expansion and deforestation in Brazil. This deadlock, Sanders writes, “could delay an agreement for another two decades.” Finding a balance between the agricultural sector’s demands and Lula’s environmental commitments and Indigenous rights will not be easy, he writes.
Brazil Balances Agricultural and Environmental Priorities
In a new paper, Richard Sanders, a Global Fellow in the Wilson Center’s Canada Institute and a former senior US diplomat, writes about Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s challenges balancing opportunities and demands in the agricultural sector with his administration’s ambitious environmental commitments. For Brazil, a strong farm sector is economically vital, but in trying to assure environmentally sustainable practices, Lula is confronting an influential agro-industrial lobby and an unsupportive Congress. Among the consequences is the stalled EU-Mercosur trade talks, at an impasse due in part to European concerns over agricultural expansion and deforestation in Brazil. This deadlock, Sanders writes, “could delay an agreement for another two decades.” Finding a balance between the agricultural sector’s demands and Lula’s environmental commitments and Indigenous rights will not be easy, he writes.
