SABio project publishes first policy brief on „Promoting inclusive bioeconomies? Lessons from agri-food governance and the politics of the Sustainable Development Goals in South America“

The project "Transformation and Sustainability Governance in South American Bioeconomies (SABio)" examines to what extent and in which ways the development of bioeconomies in the Southern Cone of South America may support a transition to inclusive and sustainable development. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and consists of two subgroups collaborating at the interface between agricultural economics (Principal Investigator Prof. Dr. Jan Börner, University of Bonn) and political science (Principal Investigator Prof. Dr. Thomas Dietz, University of Münster).

The Southern Cone of South America is one of the most important world regions for the provision of bio-based feedstock worldwide with many countries in the region currently undergoing dynamic changes in various bioeconomic sectors. Despite the region’s enormous potential for sustainable bio-based transformation, promoting environmentally responsible and equitable bioeconomic change remains a major governance challenge. This project focuses on the emergence and sustainability performance of the bioeconomies of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay and aims to analyse bio-based initiatives from a political sciences and agricultural economics perspective.

The head of the research group of the political science group at the University of Münster, Dr Karen Siegel, has been working on the three case studies with Dr Melisa Deciancio (Argentina), Guilherme de Queiroz Stein (Brazil) and Daniel Kefeli (Uruguay) in weekly virtual meetings since April 2020 and in the autumn the group was also able to travel to Münster. Gabriele Erwig, the project administrator, and the Brazil Centre have been providing important administrative and logistical support not least to overcome the challenges of international travel during the pandemic.

The policy brief „Promoting inclusive bioeconomies? Lessons from agri-food governance and the politics of the Sustainable Development Goals in South America“ by Dr Mairon Bastos Lima (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden and scientific advisor of the SABio project) and Dr Karen Siegel sets out five lessons to strengthen inclusiveness in bioeconomy governance in South America. The policy brief is available in English, Spanish [es] and Portuguese [pt] and it is based on an analysis of Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay which the authors published in 2020 in the journal World Development.