January 25, 2008

Soy not seen as the reason for Brazil's Amazon deforestation

Brazil's Agriculture Minister, Reinhold Stephanes, said that soy farming was the not the reason for a surprising increase in Amazon deforestation in late 2007, the local Estado newswire reported Thursday.

Reinhold said that he is not in favor of knocking down a single tree in the Amazon, but he expressed total doubts that any of it is because of soy farming.

Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, held an emergency meeting to discuss the rapid rise in Amazon deforestation on Thursday.

After years of a slow down, more than 3,200 square kilometres have been cut out of the Amazon region, Estado newswire said.

In November and December, a combined 1,922 square kilometres have been carved out of the forest despite the fact that the areas rainy season has normally been off limits to new deforestation.

Earlier studies by the government indicated that smaller stake-holders, such as new agrarian reform settlements, indigenous areas of the Amazon, and small farm operations were clearing land for agriculture.

Brazil is the world's second largest soy producer behind the US.

International environmental groups such as Greenpeace have charged that Brazilian farmers were planting soy in the southern Amazon. The group's anti-Amazon soy movement led Brazilian-based soy companies such as Bunge and Cargill to ban all purchases of soy grown on properties that were recently deforested.

The Environmental Ministry is responsible for monitoring Amazon deforestation. Other federal agencies, mainly the Environmental Protection Agency, Ibama, has been long seen as inefficient and corrupt when combating illegal logging and enforcing national forestry laws.