Tristes Tropiques
Mato Grosso, in midwestern Brazil, is home to the section of rainforest that lured explorer Percy Fawcett to his mysterious end. President Theodore Roosevelt expeditioned in Mato Grosso and the French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss conducted some of his best field work in the region. The name, literally, means 'dense forest.' Today, sadly, Mato Grosso is home to some of the most rampant deforestation on Earth, with land being cleared for both cattle pasture and, increasingly, soy cultivation. The satellite images above compare the extent of forest clearings for agriculture in one area of Mato Grosso, from 2001 to 2006.
2 Comments:
As soy is becoming an increasingly popular food, are there any ways for consumers to find out if the soy they are using is forest devistation free?
Not yest, as far as I know. It's worth noting a few things, however: 1) most of the soy grown in the Amazon will feed animals, not people. 2) most of the soy grown in Brazil goes to the European market. And 3) After Greenpeace issued a report on this problem, McDonald's Europe and other European food sellers pressured ag giants ADM, Cargill and Bunge into a moratorium on buying soy from illegally deforested land.
What happens after the moratorium (or even whether or not it will be honored) remains to be seen. Hopefully, some kind of certification process can be put in place.
Another thing to remember, too, is that while the Amazon gets the most attention, the Brazilian savannah -- the Cerrado, as it's called -- is being turned to soy plantations at an even faster rate than the rainforest.
Still, big props to Greenpeace for achieving fast results.
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