Agricultural policy and conservation of biodiversity in Brazil

this essay discusses the complex relationship between the agrarian question and biodiversity conservation, showing that the principal disagreements have emerged from the dominant productivity-oriented model of the "green revolution". it argues that the productive efficiency did not avoid the environmental and social "tragedy of the non-commons", giving political space to agrarian reform proposals, consolidating family and peasant agriculture and paving the road for agroecological reconversion. this reconversion, however, is hampered by the high transition cost and the lack of scientific support. a new and potentially favourable policy framework that could make this transition viable is that of payment for environmental services.