Dr Paulina Flores-Martinez (Research Associate) and Prof Tony Heron (Head of Department), along with Prof Chris West (Stockholm Environment Institute—York) and Dr Patricia Prado (Newcastle University), have co-authored a paper examining the sustainability governance of the soy-animal protein value chain, now available at Review of International Political Economy. Soybeans are critical for the global animal protein industries and are closely linked to land clearance processes in tropical forests, including primary vegetation clearing. The efforts to govern this dispersed chain and its sustainability implications offer a relevant case study to study under the Global Value Chains and Transnational Environmental Governance literature. 

The paper stems from Dr Flores-Martinez's PhD research. It unveils the evolution of the soy-animal protein chain and identifies the growing interactions of chain and sustainability governance along its power implications. Empirically, the focus is on the Brazilian—EU and UK value chains and their recent configuration into a hybrid sustainability governance framework for this forest-risk commodity.