title: Interrogating Social Sustainability in the Biofuels Sector in Latin America: Tensions Between Global Standards and Local Experiences in Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia.
abstract: Across the Americas, biofuels production systems are diverse due to geographic conditions, historical patterns of land tenure, different land use patterns, government policy frameworks, and relations between the national state and civil society, all of which shape the role that biofuels play in individual nations. Although many national governments throughout the Americas continue to incentivize growth of the biofuels industry, one key challenge for biofuels sustainability has been concern about its social impacts. In this article, we discuss some of the key social issues and tensions related to the recent expansion of biofuels production in Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil. We argue that a process of "simplification" of ecological and cultural diversity has aided the expansion of the biofuels frontier in these countries, but is also undermining their viability. We consider the ability of governments and non-state actors in multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSI) to address social and environmental concerns that affect rural livelihoods as a result of biofuels expansion. We analyze the tensions between global sustainability standards, national level policies for biofuels development, and local level impacts and visions of sustainability. We find that both government and MSI efforts to address sustainability concerns have limited impact, and recommend greater incorporation of local needs and expertise to improve governance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Studies, SUNY ESF, Syracuse, NY, USA. tselfa@esf.edu.
authors.forename: Theresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Selfa
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bain
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Studies, SUNY ESF, Syracuse, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mérida, Mexico.
authors.forename: Amarella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eastmond
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Sam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sweitz
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Conner
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.affiliation: Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gustavo Simas
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro; Conservation International, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Souza
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro; Conservation International, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Medeiros
mesh_terms: D000569:Americas; D056804:Biofuels; D001938:Brazil; D003105:Colombia; D003246:Conservation of Energy Resources / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000639:trends; D058735:Environmental Policy; D006801:Humans; D008800:Mexico; D012424:Rural Population; D012922:Social Change
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels
keywords: Biofuels; Latin America; Livelihood impacts; Multi-stakeholder initiatives; RSPO; Social Fuel Seal