In brief
Brazil's Amazon rainforest is facing heightened risks of deforestation as influential farming groups advocate for lifting a critical moratorium on soya grown post-2008. The ban, which has significantly curbed forest loss, is viewed by its supporters, including environmental organizations and international food companies, as essential for maintaining sustainable practices. Critics argue it hinders competition and development. Scientists warn that lifting the ban could lead to a tipping point for the rainforest ecosystem, exacerbating climate change and threatening biodiversity and local communities.
The Amazon rainforest could face a renewed surge of deforestation as efforts grow to overturn a long-standing ban that has protected it.
The ban - which prohibits the sale of soya grown on land cleared after 2008 - is widely credited with curbing deforestation and has been held up as a global environmental success story.
But powerful farming interests in Brazil, backed by a group of Brazilian politicians, are pushing to lift the restrictions as the COP30 UN climate conference enters its second week.
Critics of the ban say it is an unfair cartel which allows a small group of powerful companies to dominate the Amazon's soya trade.
Environmental groups have warned removing the ban would be disaster, opening the way for a new wave of land grabbing to plant more soya in the world's largest rainforest.
Scientists say ongoing deforestation, combined with the effects of climate change, is already driving the Amazon towards a potential tipping point – a threshold beyond which the rainforest can no longer sustain itself.
Brazil is the world's largest producer of soya beans, a staple crop grown for its protein and an important animal feed.
Much of the meat consumed in the UK – including chicken, beef, pork, and farmed fish - is raised using feeds that include soya beans, about 10% of which are sourced from the Brazilian Amazon.
The pressure to lift the moratorium comes as Brazil prepares to open a major new railway stretching from its agricultural heartland in the south up into the rainforest.
Scientists warn that suspending the moratorium would be a disaster for the Amazon, its people, and the world, because it could open up an area the size of Portugal to deforestation.
Many major UK food companies support the ban, as it helps ensure UK soy supply chains remain free from deforestation.
