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Homepage > What to Avoid and Alternatives > Soy
Soybean Production Threatens Rainforests and Indigenous People
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| Soybean production is expanding into rainforest areas in Brazil | |
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In the last few years, soy production has become a major force in the destruction of rainforests and other critical ecosystems, most notably in Brazil.
The US imports little soy from Brazil, since the US is a major soy producer. But other industrialized countries, such as those in the EU, as well as Asia, are major importers of soy products from Brazil.
One of the ironies of the destruction of rainforests for soy production is that soy was seen by many as an alternative product to reduce the beef production that was responsible for so much rainforest clearing in recent times.
Soy production has grown so quickly in Brazil that it has now become a major threat to rainforests and soy farms are expanding into undemarcated indigenous lands, threatening tribal people.
Following are links to articles about the growth of soy production in Brazil and the consequent destruction of rainforests.
The threat to the Enawene Nawe Indians in Mato Grosso, Brazil, Survival International press release
March 5, 2006
Three-quarters of UK soy imports are from Brazil.
A Hunger Eating Up the World, Guardian Weekly
Jonathan Watts in Santarem, the Amazon
"You cannot see the wood for the beans in an ever-widening expanse of the Amazon, and it is increasingly thanks to China. Brazil's boom crop and China's growing appetite are clearing more forest than logging, cattle farming and mining."
The 7,000km Journey that Links Amazon Destruction to Fast Food, The Guardian
John Vidal, environment editor
Thursday April 6, 2006
Paving the Amazon with Soy, Z Magazine
World Bank Bows to Audit of Maggi Loan
Sasha Lilley
December 22, 2004
Groups Clash Over Soybean Boom in Brazil,, Associated Press
Michael Astor, Dec. 18, 2003
The expansion of soy production in Brazil, leading to massive deforestation.
The Amazon Can’t Be a Soy Farm, The Christian Science Monitor
Commentary: The Monitor's View, June 13, 2005
Brazil's Rise as Farming Giant Has a Price Tag, LA Times
Jerry Hirsch and Henry Chu, August 21, 2005
The growth of agriculture for export of orange juice, soy, beef and other products, leading to deforestation of the Amazon.
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