Federal University of Goiás (UFG)
Bio
Author Biography
Anderson Antonio Silva is a PhD student in Geography at the Federal University of Goiás (UFG), Brazil. He graduated with a master’s degree in Geography from São Paulo State University (UNESP), Brazil. He is a member of the research group BRICS Initiative for Critical Agrarian Studies (BICAS) and of the Observatory for Socio-environmental Conflicts in Matopiba, Brazil. He is also the Director treasurer of the Brazilian Network for Research and Management in Territorial Development (Rede Brasileira de Pesquisa e Gestão em Desenvolvimento Territorial, RETE). He is author of the technical report Survey of Environmental and Land Legislation in the State of Tocantins (TO) Brazil.
Center for Sustainable Development at the University of Brasília
Bio
Author Biography
Acácio Zuniga Leite is a PhD candidate at the Center for Sustainable Development at the University of Brasília, Brazil. He has a master’s degree in Environment and Rural Development and postgraduate training in Democracy and Social Movements from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. His areas of interest include socioenviromental development, agrarian reform, and agricultural frontiers.
Bio
Author Biography
Luís Felipe Perdigão de Castro has a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Brasília, Brazil. He is a specialist in constitutional and environmental law, a lawyer, and a Professor of Law, at undergraduate and graduate levels, at the following institutions: the Brazilian Institute of Education, Development and Research (Instituto Brasileiro de Ensino, Desenvolvimento e Pesquisa, IDP), the University Center of the Central Plateau Apparecido dos Santos (Centro Universitário do Planalto Central Apparecido dos Santos, UNICEPLAC), and the University Centre of the Development of the Centre West (Centro Universitário do Desenvolvimento do Centro Oeste, UNIDESC). He is a member of the research group BRICS Initiative for Critical Agrarian Studies (BICAS) and of the Observatory for Socio-environmental Conflicts in Matopiba, Brazil.
University of Brasília
Bio
Author Biography
Sérgio Sauer has a PhD in Sociology and is Professor at the University of Brasília, Brazil. He holds a Brazilian CNPq scholarship and is the coordinator of the Observatory for Socio-environmental Conflicts in Matopiba, Brazil. He is one of the editors of the Journal of Peasant Studies and a fellow of the human rights non-governmental organisation Terra de Direitos, Brazil. His main research themes are agrarian extractivism, agricultural frontiers, land (land grabbing), and environment issues (green grabbing), rural public policies and development, agrarian social movements, and agribusiness.
Volume 54
Number 1
Published: February 2, 2023
This article discusses grilagem (land grabbing) in the Cerrado, particularly in Matopiba territory, which is seen as the newest and largest global agricultural frontier. It examines how the Rural Environmental Cadastre (CAR), created in 2012, has become an instrument for land and green grabbing. The analysis draws on empirical evidence on overlapping land cadastres and conflict in Piauí. The CAR has favoured green grabbing due to weak land governance, allowing the appropriation of land and nature through claims of environmental protection. The article highlights resource appropriations on the frontier that reflect the ‘unequal ecological exchange’, and the ‘metabolic rift’, that characterises the global capitalist system. It contributes to a highly topical debate on green grabbing, in the context of climate change and environmental sustainability. Crucially, it offers a perspective of the global South, on how the green agenda is being used through legal tools as a mechanism of resource appropriation.
Este artigo aborda a grilagem (land grabbing) no Cerrado, particularmente no território do Matopiba, que é visto como a mais nova e maior fronteira agrícola global. Analisa-se como o Cadastro Ambiental Rural (CAR), criado em 2012, se tornou um instrumento de apropriação de terras e de apropriação verde. A análise baseia-se em evidência empírica sobre a sobreposição de cadastros de terras e conflitos no Piauí. O CAR tem favorecido a apropriação verde devido à gestão frágil da terra, que permite a apropriação da terra e da natureza sob alegações de proteção ambiental. O artigo destaca as dotações de recursos na fronteira que refletem o “intercâmbio ecológico desigual” e a “fratura metabólica”, que caracterizam o sistema capitalista global. Este trabalho contribui para um debate altamente atual sobre a apropriação verde, no contexto das mudanças climáticas e da sustentabilidade ambiental. O artigo traz uma perspectiva do Sul global sobre como a agenda verde é usada como mecanismo de apropriação de recursos por meio de instrumentos jurídicos.
