Territórios globais de extração: as infraestruturas logísticas da soja e a transformação socioterritorial de Santarém e do distrito de Miritituba, Itaituba (PA) (2000-2022)

Abstract

Brazil has established itself as the world's leading producer and exporter of soybeans, with the state of Mato Grosso accounting for the largest share of national production. However, the expansion of this commodity has increasingly encroached upon the territory of Pará State, particularly through the territorialization of the Arco Norte logistics corridor – Tapajós Axis, in the area influenced by the BR-163 highway, in western Pará. Soy production and its associated logistics are organized through Global Production Networks (GPNs), generating significant socio-territorial effects, including deforestation and the enclosure of Indigenous territories and local communities. This expansion is not spontaneous; rather, it results from the strategic planning of a State-Capital nexus, which, through the establishment of regulatory frameworks such as the New Forest Code and the New Ports Law, creates conditions for spatial reconfigurations in service of the GPN. Accordingly, this study used mixed methods to analyze how regional nodes of the Global Soy Production Network are structured in the study area, based on the argument that such structuring gives rise to extractive territories. The formation and constitution of these extractive territories are explored throughout the chapters, considering distinct mechanisms in different locations, and demonstrating their socio-spatial and political implications in the municipality of Santarém and in the district of Miritituba, in the municipality of Itaituba (PA). This research also contributes to the project “Environmental Policies Across Commodities Chains (EPICC): Comparing multi-level governance for Biodiversity Protection and Climate Action in Brazil, Colombia, and Indonesia” by identifying global extractive territories and their associated effects.