Abstract
In the Cerrado, the expansion of soybean cultivation since the 1990s has coincided withthe strengthening of environmental regulations. We analyze how the two mainenvironmental policies – Protected Areas and the Forest Code – have played out at theground level in western Bahia state. These policies in Cerrado have not been designedto curb the expansion of this agricultural frontier. These norms have, on the contrary,accommodated this expansion because the way environmental managers selectivelychoose environmental problems and publicize them through specific informationsystems depreciates traditional fire-dependent production systems. These ‘politics ofselection’ are likely to increase competition for resources in the margins of soybeanagriculture, which is where traditional populations have now become confined.