Amazon rainforest at risk as key protection under threat
The Amazon rainforest could face a renewed surge in deforestation as powerful farming interests in Brazil – backed by a group of politicians – push to overturn a key pillar of its protection: the Soy Moratorium.
The moratorium – a voluntary agreement established in 2006 between soy traders, NGOs and Brazilian government agencies – prohibits the purchase of soy grown on land deforested after 2008.
It is widely credited with dramatically slowing forest loss in the Amazon and has long been cited as a global environmental success story.
But opponents in Brazil last week petitioned the Supreme Court to reopen an investigation into whether the agreement amounts to anti-competitive behaviour, a move that could pave the way for its suspension.
The challenge comes at a sensitive moment for Brazil, which will host the UN Climate Change Conference, COP30, in Belém in November.
Scientists warn that deforestation, combined with the effects of climate change, is already pushing the Amazon towards a potential environmental “tipping point”.
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