Event

Workshop: Brazil in the emerging global knowledge-based Bioeconomy

The bioeconomy is largely understood “as the knowledge-based production and utilization of biological resources, innovative biological processes and principles to sustainably provide goods and services across all economic sectors” (Global Bioeconomy Summit, 2015). A key goal of national and supra-national strategies is to establish leadership in an emerging competitive knowledge-based economy.

Brazil is widely seen as a central arena for the implementation of the bioeconomy, even though it has not yet adopted a national Bioeconomy Strategy. The country is home to the largest areas of genetically modified crops (especially soy), and is developing into a “large-scale laboratory” for the application of new biotechnologies such as genetic engineering processes. At the same time, according to the OECD (2009), Brazil has the potential to become a global knowledge producer, especially in the sugarcane-sugar-ethanol-electricity-bioplastic-sector. Today, the country is the second largest producer of ethanol after the USA.

Against this background, Brazilian sociologist Camila Moreno will shed light on current visions, developments and contradictions in the emerging bioeconomy in Brazil. She will focus on the nexus of land use, agro-energy production, knowledge production and climate policy, as well as on the changes and shifts in the context of the Bolsonaro administration.

Date:
23.05.2019