Pelos fios do algodão: a lógica de desenvolvimento sustentável internacionalizada pelo projeto Algodão Agroecológico Paraíba

Abstract

Debates on sustainable development (SD) have permeated the specialized literature since its earliest formulations in the 1970s as “eco-development” and continue to this day, shaping the very formulation of international agendas and public policies (PPs). More critical authors argue that SD is instrumentalized on a global scale in the form of a highly corporatized “green economy” that does not take into account the traditional knowledge of communities. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the most prominent manifestation of the concept, are ambitious targets for countries to achieve through public policies and international cooperation projects. Thus, globalization allows for the sharing of best practices and technical advancements through various arrangements, one of the most common being those characterized by the presence of International Organizations (IOs). This study is situated within this context of cooperation for the dissemination of policies that prioritize sustainability as one of their core pillars. It analyzes the “Paraíba Agroecological Cotton” public policy implemented by the Paraíba Company for Research, Rural Extension, and Land Regulation (EMPAER) and its path to +Algodão, a Trilateral South-South Cooperation Project between the Government of Brazil, through ABC/MRE, the FAO, and six partner countries. Active since 2013, this project falls within the broader scope of the Brazil-FAO International Cooperation Program, established in 2008. Throughout the study, the aim is to understand which sustainability guidelines practiced in Paraíba are being disseminated through the FAO project, which constitutes the research question. The specific objectives are: to identify the practices present in Paraíba’s public policy; to discuss, based on specialized literature on the internationalization of public policies, the process by which public policy is disseminated; and finally, to understand how this process unfolds and how these practices are present and have become internationalized via the FAO. Through semi-structured interviews with managers from EMPAER and the FAO, a historical timeline is traced of the events leading up to cooperation with this international organization, beginning with the Cotton Dispute at the WTO in 2002. The results of the study show that Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (ATER), as practiced by EMPAER, was the primary internationalized practice for partner countries in the cooperation. Furthermore, the South-South international cooperation model was identified as one of the facilitating factors for the dissemination of these ideas. The importance of this study lies in the fact that it sheds light on a topic rarely explored in scientific literature; furthermore, it brings International Relations in Paraíba into focus, highlighting the state’s presence in global sustainability arenas.