Bioeconomy politics, discourse and storylines insustainable development transition in Brazil's Amazonrainforest

This project explores the emerging 'bioeconomy' discoursein Brazil and its role in shaping sustainable transition inBrazil's Amazon. Taking a Strategic Communicationsperspective, it examines actors and interests in this field,the use of language to achieve behavioural and attitudinaloutcomes, and the dynamics in which ideas and discoursecome to dominate a policy field and shape the direction ofpolicy for years to come. It draws on qualitative methods ofdiscursive analysis, interviews and observation. There arethree core propositions: (i) on the role of discourse inpolitical process - the bioeconomy idea has rapidly gainedpolitical power due to the emergence of a 'discoursecoalition', wherein a diverse array of actors are united andgiven political power through employing the bioeconomy'storyline', which can be observed in an array ofpractices/locations to which the storyline gives newfoundpolitical meaning (i.e., legitimacy); (ii) on deforestation -the bioeconomy discourse has been effectively utilized tolegitimise and promote zero-deforestation policies thatcontribute to the acceleration of a sustainable transition inBrazil's Amazon; (iii) on political economy - agricultural andbiofuel production polices legitimised and promoted via thebioeconomy discourse have served to preserve socialinequalities and reinforce skewed power structuresbenefiting corporate industry in Brazil; thus, acting as abarrier to sustainable transition.