Landuse change, biofuels and rural development in the La Plata Basin : country/region: La Plata River Basin (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay); final project report

Abstract

The La Plata Basin is a globally significant area of agricultural food and biofuel production. In the IAI project Landuse change, biofuels and rural development in the La Plata Basin, funded by IDRC from 2008 to 2011, four research teams studied environmental, social, institutional and economic drivers and consequences of land use change in the five countries of the basin where sugarcane is grown for sugar and bioethanol production, and soybean for feed, food and biodiesel production. This report gives an overview on project activities and summarizes research results on industrial crop production, the social implications of novel forms of agricultural production (large national and international agribusinesses), the environmental effects on land and carbon, and climate change predictions. Furthermore, it assesses the land use-hydrology-soil carbon-climate interactions. Flooding-induced economic losses of agriculture in the Western Pampas, Argentina are assessed, and the effectiveness of “green” policy incentives in São Paulo state, Brazil, is analyzed. Large-scale, agribusiness-dominated biofuel production has considerably changed the rural production landscape. These changes, often perceived as threats, also created important environmental and social opportunities. Governments should closely monitor and steer large-scale crop production, and particularly support interdisciplinary scientific research, to safeguard sound, socially equitable and environmentally sustainable development...