Soy price rise and amnesty encourage deforestation

The latest report from the Biofuels Monitoring Centre of the NGO Repórter Brasil, released this week, assesses the relationship between deforestation and soybean production in the 2010/11 crops, under the perspective of changes in the Brazilian Forest Code. The state of Mato Grosso, one of the states that have the highest rate of deforestation and the country’s largest producer of soybeans, propelled an increase in production. Data from the Deforestation Real Time Detection (Deter), from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), pointed out that from January to June this year, the state was also the leader in the statistics of forest clearing, amounting to 673,5 km² of vegetation removal.

Driven by a 30% price rise and the promise of amnesty to deforestation granted by the Deputy Aldo Rebelo (PCdoB-SP) in the new Forest Code Bill, approved by the lower parliamentary house in May this year, the landlords broadened the deforested areas. According to surveys led by the Inpe, in 2011 the number of soy plantations derived from recently cleared areas in Mato Grosso, Pará e Rondônia almost doubled compared to 2010: the deforestation soared from 76 to 147 areas. "We have observed a mass movement that tries to find ways around the legislation. Many producers trust the federal agency ineffectiveness and the amnesty that would be granted by changes in the Forest Code", said Luciano Evaristo, director of Environmental Protection of the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), in an interview to the Repórter Brasil.

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In fact, the first version of the new Code passed by the House benefits producers caught with irregularities. The Bill, however, is still to be considered by the Senate that, pressed by the government, NGOs, social movements, researchers and scientists, can turn down the changes endorsed by the members of the lower parliamentary house, that would speed up environmental degradation as a result of the reduction of the Permanent Preservation Areas (APPs) in river banks to the width of up to 10 metres or the recovery exemption and the amnesty to areas that were cleared up until 22 of July 2008.

Production increase

The survey indicates that the soybeans planted area of this year's crop has increased by 2.9%, occupying 24.1 million hectares. The growth was seen mainly in the Midwest region, which is under expansion of the agricultural frontier, and where the planted area increased to 278 thousand hectares. According to the National Supply Company (CONAB), the 2011 harvest reached a record of 75 million tons, in view of the 68.7 million last year.

One of the greatest agribusiness villains due to the amount of deforested area required for production, soybean grains now account for a significant fraction of the Brazilian agricultural exports. The country is second in the world ranking, with production of 28%, second only to the United States, which holds 32% of the world’s production.

Based on the practice of extensive monoculture, the soy crops have stimulated deforestation in the areas of the Cerrado, or Savannah, and the Amazon. In Brazil, the biome that is hit the hardest is still the Cerrado. The major environmental impacts, as well as deforestation, are water contamination, silting of rivers and springs, loss of soil and biodiversity, and other indirect impacts caused mainly by the infrastructure constructed for produce transportation such as ports, waterways, railroads and highways.