Chapter 8
Bioeconomy Lessons from Biofuel
Policies in Emerging Countries
Abstract Brazil, India and Indonesia show key similarities in their bioeconomy
strategies. First, they all have stressed poverty reduction goals and adopted a common
approach to rural development, though with strategies that have generally disregarded
structural inequalities and uneven allocation patterns. The rural poor have systematically lost control over land, water and other natural resources while being allocated
only with the least rewarding stage of bio-based value chains—that of raw material provision. Cases of “adverse incorporation,” i.e., inclusion under unfavorable
terms that ends up worsening poverty, have been commonplace. Second, the state
has assumed a broad set of roles in these emerging economies, including as an important market actor through state-controlled fuel companies and development banks.
Third, biofuel policies have characteristically sought to redress international inequalities but at the expense of domestic ones. In all three countries, rural development
policy is crafted by agribusiness elites who do not suffer from the poverty that still
pervades large segments of their populations. Those elites indeed often benefit from
domestic inequalities and therefore have little incentive to address them. As such,
current bioeconomy policies may help these emerging countries catch up with the
developed world, but not without high social and environmental costs.
Keywords Rural development · Inclusiveness · North-South equity · Agency ·
Access and allocation · State-market relations
8.1 Introduction: An Emerging Country Take
on the Bioeconomy?
The shape of the bioeconomy varies from place to place, following not only different
resource constraints but, at times, also place-specific preferences and visions. In other
words, the approach to biofuels or broader bioeconomy development vary according
to context and to the policy-related beliefs of its guiding actors (see Scordato et al.
2017). Understanding this positionality and diversity is valuable to analyze the
distinct governance pathways that different countries can take on the bioeconomy.
Moreover, as emerging countries gain more relevance in an increasingly multipolar
world, they also change global bioeconomy policy patterns.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. G. Bastos Lima, The Politics of Bioeconomy and Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66838-9_8
179
Bioeconomy Lessons from Biofuel
Policies in Emerging Countries
Abstract Brazil, India and Indonesia show key similarities in their bioeconomy
strategies. First, they all have stressed poverty reduction goals and adopted a common
approach to rural development, though with strategies that have generally disregarded
structural inequalities and uneven allocation patterns. The rural poor have systematically lost control over land, water and other natural resources while being allocated
only with the least rewarding stage of bio-based value chains—that of raw material provision. Cases of “adverse incorporation,” i.e., inclusion under unfavorable
terms that ends up worsening poverty, have been commonplace. Second, the state
has assumed a broad set of roles in these emerging economies, including as an important market actor through state-controlled fuel companies and development banks.
Third, biofuel policies have characteristically sought to redress international inequalities but at the expense of domestic ones. In all three countries, rural development
policy is crafted by agribusiness elites who do not suffer from the poverty that still
pervades large segments of their populations. Those elites indeed often benefit from
domestic inequalities and therefore have little incentive to address them. As such,
current bioeconomy policies may help these emerging countries catch up with the
developed world, but not without high social and environmental costs.
Keywords Rural development · Inclusiveness · North-South equity · Agency ·
Access and allocation · State-market relations
8.1 Introduction: An Emerging Country Take
on the Bioeconomy?
The shape of the bioeconomy varies from place to place, following not only different
resource constraints but, at times, also place-specific preferences and visions. In other
words, the approach to biofuels or broader bioeconomy development vary according
to context and to the policy-related beliefs of its guiding actors (see Scordato et al.
2017). Understanding this positionality and diversity is valuable to analyze the
distinct governance pathways that different countries can take on the bioeconomy.
Moreover, as emerging countries gain more relevance in an increasingly multipolar
world, they also change global bioeconomy policy patterns.
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. G. Bastos Lima, The Politics of Bioeconomy and Sustainability,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66838-9_8
179