A fifth of Brazilian soy in Europe is result of deforestation
Source: The Guardian
A fifth of Brazilian soy in Europe is result of deforestation
Study findings suggest more needs to be done to protect rainforest in pending trade agreements
Fiona Harvey and Dom Phillips
Thu 16 Jul 2020 19.00 BST
Last modified on Thu 16 Jul 2020 19.15 BST
Large quantities of the soy and beef imported to Europe from Brazil have been “contaminated” by deforestation, research shows.
The findings suggest much more needs to be done to protect Brazilian land as pending trade agreements are likely to increase sales to European consumers.
About a fifth of the soy exported to the EU from Brazil’s Amazon and Cerrado regions, mostly for animal feed, and at least 17% of the beef, may be coming from land that has been deforested, according to the study published in the journal Science.
Just 2% of properties in the regions of Brazil studied were responsible for 62% of the illegal deforestation, the researchers established, through a close examination of land use and deforestation, but these tend to be in some of the areas most associated with soy and beef production for export.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/16/a-fifth-of-brazilian-soy-in-europe-is-result-of-deforestation-amazon-jair-bolsonaro
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Related: The rotten apples of Brazil's agribusiness (Science)
