Chinese-driven frontier expansion in the Amazon: four axes of pressure caused by the growing demand for soy trade

Expansão de fronteira impulsionada pela China na Amazônia: quatro eixos de pressão causados pela crescente demanda pelo comércio de soja

Expansión de la frontera impulsada por China en el Amazonas: cuatro ejes de presión causados por la creciente demanda de comercio de soja

Abstract:

Chinese demand for the world's commodities has the capacity to shape agricultural frontiers in many parts of the world, including the Amazon. This article is a preliminary report on findings concerning the expansion of the agricultural frontier in the Brazilian Amazon driven by increases in soybean production, extension of cropped area, cross-referenced with satellite data on deforestation rates at the smallest possible scale: the municipal level. The study identifies 21 municipalities forming fours axes of frontier expansion in the Amazon, where soycrops may be the cause for displacement deforestation, as it is the case of cattle ranching. Despite the Soy Moratorium, frontiers in the Amazon keep shifting. The article advocates that further research in those four axes is needed to better understand the relationship between those two industries in terms of land use as well as the socio-environmental on the ground impacts. Furthermore, the connections between those areas with present and future infrastructure development in the Amazon, many counting with direct Chinese investment, will be key to the expansion of the soy value chain, bypassing the initial goal of zero-deforestation.

Keywords:
Amazon; Agricultural frontiers; Deforestation; Soy; Chinese demand