From: Cool Earth
The Brazilian soya industry has agreed to extend a moratorium on production in newly deforested areas of the Amazon rainforest.
The three-year ban on purchasing soybeans grown in recently deforested areas of the Amazon has been extended for another year.
Major soya processors, exporters and environmental groups, as well as the Brazilian government, have agreed to participate in the initiative, which aims to minimise the effect soya farming has on endangered rainforests.
The moratorium project is expected to be showcased at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this winter in order to achieve more support and funds so producers who help to conserve the rainforest can be adequately compensated.
Carlos Minc, Brazil's environment minister, said that unlike the cattle industry, soya is no longer a major factor in the destruction of the Amazon rainforest but maintained that the figures for Amazon deforestation are still "unacceptable".
He added that the current soya moratorium should serve as "a model for all relevant sectors".
In a report for the Institute of Science in Society, environmentalist Peter Bunyard said deforestation is made worse by large soya producers offering land at "dirt-cheap" prices to foreign farmers.