9.5 Final Considerations
223
cede political power to subordinate actors, fearing losing their privileged positions
and control over the agenda. That fear is justified, for other actors would indeed do
things differently.
However, the global expansion of biofuels may have made “disguised unsustainability” stretch too far. By aggravating mainstream agriculture’s negative social
and environmental impacts, biofuel policies have helped highlight giant elephants in
the room. There is no reason why the more substantial scrutiny dispensed to feedstock crops should be limited to these markets and not extended to other agricultural
sectors—or even to the same crops when used for other purposes. Biofuels and the
bioeconomy thus offer a window of opportunity for a ripple effect towards greater
sustainability. The cure may turn out not worse than the disease but reveal larger
problems that need addressing—a wake-up call. All this, therefore, may be just the
start.
References
Abdallah H (2006) Oil exports under GATT and the WTO. OPEC Rev 29(4):267–294
Afionis S, Stringer LC (2020) Fuelling friendships or driving divergence? Legitimacy, coherence,
and negotiation in Brazilian perceptions of European and American biofuels governance. Energy
Res Soc Sci 67:101487
Allern EH, Saglie J (2012) Inside the black box: parties as multi-level organisations in a unitary
state. West European Polit 35(5):947–970
Altieri MA, Toledo VM (2011) The agroecological revolution in Latin America: rescuing nature,
ensuring food sovereignty and empowering peasants. J Peasant Stud 38(3):587–612
Bastos Lima MG (2008) Sustainable food security for local communities in the globalized era: a
comparative examination of Brazilian and Canadian case studies. UWSpace. http://hdl.handle.
net/10012/3660. Accessed 25 Oct 2020
Bastos Lima MG (2018) Toward multipurpose agriculture: food, fuels, flex crops, and prospects for
a bioeconomy. Global Environ Polit 18(2):143–150
Bastos Lima MG, Gupta J (2013) The policy context of biofuels: a case of non-governance at the
global level? Global Environ Polit 13(2):46–64
Bastos Lima MG, Gupta J (2014) The extraterritorial dimensions of biofuel policies and the politics
of scale: live and let die? Third World Q 35(3):392–410
Bastos Lima MG, Persson UM (2020) Commodity-centric landscape governance as a double-edged
sword: the case of soy and the Cerrado Working Group in Brazil. Front Forests Glob Change 3:27
Biermann F, Pattberg P (eds) (2012) Global environmental governance reconsidered. MIT Press,
Cambridge
Biermann F, Betsill M, Gupta J, Kanie N, Lebel L et al (2009) Science and implementation plan of
the earth system governance project. IHDP, Bonn
Biermann F, Kim RE (eds) (2020) Architectures of earth system governance: institutional
complexity and structural transformation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Brezis M (2008) Big pharma and health care: unsolvable conflict of interests between private
enterprise and public health. Isr J Psychiatry Relat Sci 45(2):83–94
Bronfman NC, Jimenez RB, Arevalo PC, Cifuentes LA (2012) Understanding social acceptance of
electricity generation sources. Energy Policy 46:246–252
Carey T (2009) Cartel price controls vs. free trade: a study of proposals to challenge OPEC’s
influence in the oil market through WTO dispute settlement. Am Univ Int Law Rev 24(5):785–812
223
cede political power to subordinate actors, fearing losing their privileged positions
and control over the agenda. That fear is justified, for other actors would indeed do
things differently.
However, the global expansion of biofuels may have made “disguised unsustainability” stretch too far. By aggravating mainstream agriculture’s negative social
and environmental impacts, biofuel policies have helped highlight giant elephants in
the room. There is no reason why the more substantial scrutiny dispensed to feedstock crops should be limited to these markets and not extended to other agricultural
sectors—or even to the same crops when used for other purposes. Biofuels and the
bioeconomy thus offer a window of opportunity for a ripple effect towards greater
sustainability. The cure may turn out not worse than the disease but reveal larger
problems that need addressing—a wake-up call. All this, therefore, may be just the
start.
References
Abdallah H (2006) Oil exports under GATT and the WTO. OPEC Rev 29(4):267–294
Afionis S, Stringer LC (2020) Fuelling friendships or driving divergence? Legitimacy, coherence,
and negotiation in Brazilian perceptions of European and American biofuels governance. Energy
Res Soc Sci 67:101487
Allern EH, Saglie J (2012) Inside the black box: parties as multi-level organisations in a unitary
state. West European Polit 35(5):947–970
Altieri MA, Toledo VM (2011) The agroecological revolution in Latin America: rescuing nature,
ensuring food sovereignty and empowering peasants. J Peasant Stud 38(3):587–612
Bastos Lima MG (2008) Sustainable food security for local communities in the globalized era: a
comparative examination of Brazilian and Canadian case studies. UWSpace. http://hdl.handle.
net/10012/3660. Accessed 25 Oct 2020
Bastos Lima MG (2018) Toward multipurpose agriculture: food, fuels, flex crops, and prospects for
a bioeconomy. Global Environ Polit 18(2):143–150
Bastos Lima MG, Gupta J (2013) The policy context of biofuels: a case of non-governance at the
global level? Global Environ Polit 13(2):46–64
Bastos Lima MG, Gupta J (2014) The extraterritorial dimensions of biofuel policies and the politics
of scale: live and let die? Third World Q 35(3):392–410
Bastos Lima MG, Persson UM (2020) Commodity-centric landscape governance as a double-edged
sword: the case of soy and the Cerrado Working Group in Brazil. Front Forests Glob Change 3:27
Biermann F, Pattberg P (eds) (2012) Global environmental governance reconsidered. MIT Press,
Cambridge
Biermann F, Betsill M, Gupta J, Kanie N, Lebel L et al (2009) Science and implementation plan of
the earth system governance project. IHDP, Bonn
Biermann F, Kim RE (eds) (2020) Architectures of earth system governance: institutional
complexity and structural transformation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Brezis M (2008) Big pharma and health care: unsolvable conflict of interests between private
enterprise and public health. Isr J Psychiatry Relat Sci 45(2):83–94
Bronfman NC, Jimenez RB, Arevalo PC, Cifuentes LA (2012) Understanding social acceptance of
electricity generation sources. Energy Policy 46:246–252
Carey T (2009) Cartel price controls vs. free trade: a study of proposals to challenge OPEC’s
influence in the oil market through WTO dispute settlement. Am Univ Int Law Rev 24(5):785–812