Contradictions of the 'New Green Revolution': A View from South America's Southern Cone

This paper is an examination of the social, economic, and environmental problems created by the search for and application of biotechnological solutions to global hunger that are also protected by a system of globally harmonized intellectual property rights. These contradictions are illustrated by the example of South America's Southern Cone region (Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay) where the New Green Revolution' has since 1996 been vigorously introduced, led by genetically modified (GM) soybeans. It is argued that the 'New Green Revolution' is not a solution either to the problem of agro-ecological sustainability or to that of hunger and malnutrition.