LDPI Working Paper 45. Impact of Restrictive Legislation and Popular Opposition Movements on Foreign Land Investments in Brazil. The Case of the Forestry and Pulp Paper Sector and Stora Enso

Abstract

The Southern Cone countries have become the leading focus of global investments in the forestry and pulp paper markets. In this paper, we analyze the impacts of these investments on local communities and the opposition movements that these have provoked, through a focus on a leading foreign firm in this sector – Stora Enso. This firm is active in both of the major investment regions in Brazil – the State of Bahia and Rio Grande do Sul – and is an ideal case for studying these opposition movements. These opposition movements include a wide range of actors from social movements, NGOs, and local populations to different actors in the public sector and have been a decisive factor in frustrating investment plans in the sector. We also analyze the way in which pulp and paper investments have been affected by, and are responding to, Brazil´s restrictive legislation on foreign land investments, and here again Stora Enso is an ideal case. Through an examination of both these aspects, we show how combinations of public regulation and social movements can prove effective against leading transnationals, while at the same time capturing the ways in which such transnationals are permanently respositioning their strategies to adapt to and accommodate both regulatory restrictions and social movement opposition