![]() On a positive note, now that many of these cases have been exposed, these problems are being addressed.Īgain, these issues are varied by geography. ![]() In 2004 the Brazilian government intervened in 236 cases of slavery in soy farms involving over 6,000 labourers, 127 of which were children. There have also been cases of human rights abuses in relation to soy. While the growth in soy enterprises may positively impact developing countries’ economies, whether they benefit local individuals is another matter. Large industrial enterprises can displace local communities in some areas and take away livelihoods if not expanded considerately it also concentrates the economic benefits to far fewer people. In Chaco province, Argentina, soy has overtaken smallholder crops such as cotton - the number of farmers owning under 100ha fell by 80% while the number of farms over larger than 1,000ha increased by 230% between 19. For example, many farms in the Brazilian Cerrado and Amazon average 1,000 ha and even up to 50,000 ha (70,000 football pitches). Let’s not forget that when we cut this forest down, we’re destroying not only some of the most unique habitats in the world and all the services that they provide, but also the homes of everything that lives in them.Ī lot of American soybean production is operated on a large industrial scale, which tends to be bad news to smallholders. Other areas at risk include the Atlantic Forest, the Chiquitano Dry Forest, the Gran Chaco, the Pampas in Argentina, the North American prairies and the Uruguayan Campos. Research hows that soy production for consumer markets has been linked to habitat loss in Brazil and could be a threat to biodiversity.Ī Brazilian moratorium on growing soy in land cleared from Amazon forest has helped reduce this, but other habitats such as the Cerrado haven’t seen the same attention, it’s lost around half of its natural vegetation since the 1950’s a large part of this due to soy expansion.Biological diversity is extremely important for a variety of reasons, not just for its own sake, but also for larger global issues such as climate change, resource regulation, soil health and more. Much of this land is incredibly biologically diverse – it’s home to a great array of animals and habitat compositions. The largest expansion of soy production has been in South America and it’s already contributed to deforestation and change in many important habitats such as the Amazon and Cerrado. We need somewhere to grow all this soy and Europe isn’t facilitating it all yet. There’s a problem here though right? The demand for soy is growing, we need more land to grow it and workers to farm it and we need to get it from where it’s grown to where it’s used. Production is increasing and demand is growing, it’s a huge industry with some pretty massive players. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |