Are there bright spots in an agriculture frontier? Characterizing seeds of good Anthropocene in Matopiba, Brazil

Abstract

Tackling deforestation and forest degradation calls for cross scale coordination of a mix of policies both top-down Command and Control (CC), together with bottom-up, local to regional. While considerable efforts have been made to analyze CC approaches, bottom-up initiatives in place have not yet been characterized. In this study, we use the seeds of good Anthropocene, a framework that emphasize hopeful initiatives existing in practice, to identify bottom-up initiatives in Matopiba, one of the most dynamic agricultural frontiers in Brazil. “Matopiba Seeds” were characterized according to social, technological, economic, ecological, political and value dimensions (STEEPV). We then used the Three Horizon framework, that help uncover multiple pathways towards sustainable development goals, to explore positive transitions in Matopiba. Our results show that out of 379 initiatives only 14 score high in different STEEPV dimensions likely enabling cross scale coordination. About 36% of the initiatives promote traditional knowledge in the use of biodiversity, 29% promote the payment for ecosystem services, 21% assist agriculture modernization and 14% support tourism and cultural identity. However, these initiatives were invested only $11 million between 2016 and 2021 and only three are emerging from local community (bottom-up). This study illustrates paths to instill transformative transitions in Brazil's agricultural frontiers by raising awareness of the importance to nurture existing bottom-up and top-down initiatives that have the capacity to put sustainable development concepts into practice making the explicit need for agribusiness to comply with trade agreements and environmental laws.