Fragmented sustainability governance of telecoupled flows: Brazilian beef exports to China

Abstract

The intensified interconnection of global agri-food systems has linked local sustainability problems to distant global drivers. With point of departure in contributions within the field of environmental governance from the telecoupling literature, we examine how rapidly increasing Chinese demand for beef is associated with detrimental sustainability outcomes in Brazil. Providing an overview of the overlapping public and private governance arrangements that apply to these trade flows, our findings suggest that governance of telecouplings within the beef sector is highly fragmented, and has been predominantly concerned with market facilitation, generally overlooking sustainability issues. China has thereby emerged as a potential source of regulatory leakage, where non-compliant Brazilian exporters can redirect products with a low potential for commercialization in developed countries. We, therefore, call attention to the importance of governing new telecouplings between large developing countries through policies effectuating these states’ official environmental pledges.

Keywords:

• telecoupling
• governance
• China
• Brazil
• beef
• sustainability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Joint Action Plan (JAP) 2010-2014; JAP 2015-2021; and the Ten-Year Plan (TYP) 2012-2022.

2 Political; Commercial; Inspection; Industry and Information Technology; Health; Finance; Space; Energy and Mining; Education; Culture; Science and Innovation; and Agriculture.

3 Cosban’s minutes can be found in Lima (2016).

4 Management Report, Ambassador Marcos Caramuru de Paiva (2016-2018). Brazilian Embassy in Beijing, 2018, §11.

5 Cable no 154, from the Brazilian embassy in Beijing to Brasilia, Feb 6, 2013, §6.

6 Interview with Brazilian diplomat, 2022.

7 Management Report, Ambassador Marcos Caramuru de Paiva (2016-2018). Brazilian Embassy in Beijing, 2018, §11.

8 Management Report, Ambassador Marcos Caramuru de Paiva (2016-2018). Brazilian Embassy in Beijing, 2018, §12.

9 Cable no 158, from the Brazilian embassy in Beijing to Brasilia, Feb 6, 2013, §15.

10 Cable no 768, from the Brazilian embassy in Beijing to Brasilia, June 10, 2015, §66.

11 Management Report, Ambassador Roberto Jaguaribe (2015-2016). Brazilian Embassy in Beijing, 2016, §68.

12 Cable no 768, from the Brazilian embassy in Beijing to Brasilia, June 10, 2015, §9.

13 Cable no 768, from the Brazilian embassy in Beijing to Brasilia, June 10, 2015, §11.

14 Interview with Brazilian ambassador, 2022.

15 Besides emissions from forest conversion, much beef production in Brazil is associated with extensive, low-productivity systems, and GHG emissions from enteric fermentation (methane) and manure decomposition (nitrous oxide).

16 As the 7th largest source of deforestation risk through beef imports, the EU is included in the ‘others’ category.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by CAPES.