A new investigation has revealed that more than 400 square miles (11,000 km) of Amazon forest were cut to expand soya farming farms in Mato Grosso state, Brazil. This was despite an agreement to protect the area.
The Amazon soy moratorium, which prohibited the sale of soya cultivated on land that had been cleared after 2008, was implemented in 2006. The Amazon has been cleared of trees from 2004 to 2012. 84% of the population fell.
In recent years, however, deforestation rates have risen dramatically to a level that is now a Last year, 15-year highCampaigners say President Jair Bolsonaros’s anti-conservationist rhetorical statements and policies were encouraged.
Farmers were able to sell their soya crop as deforestation-free while still clearing land for cattle and maize.
Researchers from the Brazilian NGO Instituto Centro de Vida and Greenpeaces collaborated to map deforestation. UnearthedBureau of Investigative Journalism examined satellite data of land in Mato Grosso, a state that stretches across the southern Amazon. The state produces more soybeans than any other Brazilian state.
The researchers found that although the moratorium had stopped rainforest from being converted directly into soya fields, it had not stopped deforestation. According to research, farmers were clearing land for other commodities. Between 2009 and 2019, there was 450 sq miles equivalent to Greater Manchester that was lost in Mato Grosso.
Holly Gibbs is a professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She said that while soy farmers have complied with the moratorium, many continue to illegally deforest for other purposes.
These revelations demolish supermarket claims that soya has no longer been linked to the loss Amazon’s rainforest.
Soya is a key commodity for dairy, pig, and poultry farmers in Europe and around the globe to feed their livestock.
According to the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries, the main association representing soya traders in Brazil (Abiove), the moratorium has led to significant reductions in deforestation within the soya-producing municipalities.
Polygons are used to plant soy beans. [an area between a specified set of coordinates]Abiove stated in a statement that the entire farm was considered non-compliant after 2008’s deforestation.
An analysis in the past suggested that more than 1m tonnes soya was used by UK livestock farmers to produce poultry and other food in 2019. This could have been due to deforestation.
Gibbs stated that soya buyers from Europe and the US were required to exert pressure to stop deforestation. The stakes of the ongoing deforestation on soy properties are raised by legislation in the US, UK and EU. The soy industry could expand the Amazon soy moratorium in order to end all deforestation that is connected to soy.
Professor Raoni Rajo, an agricultural specialist from the Federal University of Minas Gerais said that the current regulations are inadequate. Only the areas where soy is grown on a property are monitored. This loophole has been noticed by farmers.
The Retail Soy Group represents top retailers like Waitrose, Tesco and Lidl.
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