Enviro groups condemn new laws threatening soybean restrictions in the Amazon

Published:Sunday | December 15, 2024 | 12:08 AM



Soybeans are planted on a farm in a rural area of Sidrolandia, Mato Grosso do Sul state, Brazil, October 22, 2022.
AP

Soybeans are planted on a farm in a rural area of Sidrolandia, Mato Grosso do Sul state, Brazil, October 22, 2022.
Dozens of environmental nonprofits issued a manifesto Thursday condemning new laws in Brazilian states that threaten to dismantle the Amazon soy moratorium –a landmark voluntary agreement banning trade in soybeans from recently deforested areas.

The 18-year-old moratorium stipulates that traders and oil producers refrain from buying soybeans grown on land cleared after 2008. The deal gathered strange bedfellows, ranging from environmental groups Greenpeace and WWF to US commodity giants Cargill, Bunge and ADM.

However, new laws recently enacted in the Amazon states of Mato Grosso, Brazil’s largest soybean producer, and neighbouring Rondonia have cut tax incentives for processing and trade companies that adhere to the agreement. Two other states and Brazil’s congress are weighing similar legislation.

“This means penalising companies committed to ending deforestation, promoting the continued expansion of agribusiness in Amazon forest areas, creating subsidies for deforestation and discriminating against the granting of tax incentives based on companies’ environmental commitment,” Thursday’s declaration stated.

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