ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors review the simultaneous, rapid changes in biofuel production, food security and deforestation in Brazil over the past 25 years. They explore main conditions, without concern to causal relationships, which allowed sugarcane ethanol production together with food security and the environmental preservation and to what extent the Brazilian experience may provide lessons relevant to other developing regions. The authors combine data on food production in Brazil with food security indicators related to availability, access, stability and utilization. They analyse how deforestation, a common externality associated with the expansion of agriculture, both for food and biofuels, develops along the same span of time. The analysis is based on a detailed assessment of available food security indicators, discussed in parallel with the expansion of sugarcane ethanol and deforestation in Brazil from 1990 to 2014. The authors review major developments affecting agricultural production systems associated with intensification strategies and environmental accords aimed at reducing illegal deforestation in the Amazon.
