Paulo Esteves, Coordinator, Socio-Environmental Platform and the Global South Unit for Mediation, BRICS Policy Center of the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro

Rebecca Ray, Senior Academic Researcher, Boston University Global Development Policy Center

Cecilia Springer (Moderator), Assistant Director, Global China Initiative, Boston University Global Development Policy Center

Latin America’s recent commodity 'supercycle,' a synchronized and sustained price increase lasting more than five years, was largely driven by a major influx in Chinese investment, finance and demand for raw materials. Throughout that boom – and the slump that followed – Amazon basin countries sought to balance economic, social and environmental priorities by strengthening and then relaxing their regulatory regimes. To what extent has the cooling of the 'China boom' led to a region-wide relaxation of social and environmental standards? And where protections were relaxed, did those reforms lead to greater, faster or higher-risk Chinese investment? In forthcoming research, Paulo Esteves, Coordinator, Socio-Environmental Platform and the Global South Unit for Mediation, BRICS Policy Center of the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, and Rebecca Ray, Senior Academic Researcher with the Boston University Global Development Policy Center, explore the implications for managing environmental and social protections amid natural resource booms, protecting the cultural and biological diversity of the Amazon basin and promoting host country governance throughout the Belt and Road Initiative.

Join us on Tuesday, October 11, for a discussion on governing the 'China boom' in the Amazon basin. This webinar is part of the Fall 2022 Global China Research Colloquium.