Soy crops push deeper into Amazon as pact faces political pressure
Farmers are clearing large swathes of land to plant soy, using a loophole in the Amazon Soy Moratorium, a 2006 voluntary agreement signed by major grain traders not to buy soy grown on land deforested after 2008.
The Moratorium protects untouched, primary rainforest but excludes "secondary forests"—vegetation that regrew on previously cleared land. These areas, though ecologically important, can legally be razed for soy, allowing the grain to be marketed as "deforestation-free."
According to the moratorium's latest report for 2022-23, soy cultivation in virgin forests has nearly tripled since 2018, reaching 250,000 hectares, 3.4 percent of all soy grown in the Amazon. However, independent research shows that the real footprint is likely far larger.
Satellite data analyzed by Xiaopeng Song, a geography professor at the University of Maryland, found that 16 percent of soy-producing land in the Brazilian Amazon—about 1.04 million hectares—had been cleared after the 2008 cutoff. "It creates loopholes if we only limit it to primary forest," he said.
The soy industry body Abiove, which oversees the pact, acknowledged that some soy is being planted where secondary forests were cut. Still, it defended the Moratorium's narrow definition, arguing broader interpretations could lead to "inflated" assessments of deforestation.
Scientists warn that even regrown forests play a crucial role in carbon capture and biodiversity. "We cannot achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement without actively increasing the carbon sink," said Viola Heinrich of the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences. Secondary forests absorb carbon faster than primary ones, she noted.
Near the Amazon port city of Santarem, soy farming is accelerating. "What can be stolen once, can be stolen again," said Gilson Rego of the Pastoral Land Commission, observing soy fields replacing secondary forest. Farmers are drawn by easy access to Cargill's shipping terminal, which reduces transport costs. Cargill declined to comment.
China is the top buyer of Brazilian soy, primarily for animal feed. Cofco, China's leading grain trader, remains a signatory to the Moratorium and says it remains committed.
Despite this, political pressure is growing to weaken the pact. Some right-wing lawmakers and farm groups have filed lawsuits and proposed laws to soften the rules. In April, a Supreme Court justice backed Mato Grosso's plan to revoke tax benefits for signatories. That ruling awaits full court approval.
Even Abiove president Andre Nassar hinted at reform: "Something needs to be done."
Soy farmers say current rules are unfair. "It's not fair that other countries in Europe could deforest and grow, and now we are held back by laws that are not even ours," said Adelino Avelino Noimann, a soy association leader in Pará state.
However, environmentalists say that removing protections could lead to far greater damage. "We still see the expansion of soy in the Amazon," said IPAM director Andre Guimaraes. "But it could be worse."
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Vancouver Sun
a day ago
- Vancouver Sun
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Vancouver Sun
09-08-2025
- Vancouver Sun
B.C. climate news: Wildfire smoke causing health issues across North America
Here's the latest news concerning climate change and biodiversity loss in B.C. and around the world, from the steps leaders are taking to address the problems, to all the up-to-date science. Check back every Saturday for more climate and environmental news or sign up for our Climate Connected newsletter HERE. • Vancouver Island resident still nervous after wildfire evacuation • How Canadian wildfire smoke is jeopardizing health across North America • Scientists now know what's causing billions of sea stars to die • New studies tie unrecognized deaths and health problems to Maui and L.A. wildfires Human activities like burning fossil fuels and farming livestock are the main drivers of climate change, according to the UN's intergovernmental panel on climate change. This causes heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth's atmosphere, increasing the planet's surface temperature. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. The panel, which is made up of scientists from around the world, including researchers from B.C., has warned for decades that wildfires and severe weather, such as the province's deadly heat dome and catastrophic flooding in 2021, would become more frequent and intense because of the climate emergency. It has issued a code red for humanity and warns the window to limit warming to 1.5 C above pre-industrial times is closing. According to NASA climate scientists, human activities have raised the atmosphere's carbon dioxide content by 50 per cent in less than 200 years, and 'there is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate.' As of Aug. 5, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 427.87 parts per million, slightly down from 429.61 ppm last month, according to NOAA data measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory, a global atmosphere monitoring lab in Hawaii. The NOAA notes there has been a steady rise in CO2 from under 320 ppm in 1960. • The Earth is now about 1.3 C warmer than it was in the 1800s. • 2024 was hottest year on record globally, beating the record in 2023. • The global average temperature in 2023 reached 1.48 C higher than the pre-industrial average, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service. In 2024, it breached the 1.5 C threshold at 1.55 C. • The past 10 years (2015-2024) are the 10 warmest on record. • Human activities have raised atmospheric concentrations of CO2 by nearly 49 per cent above pre-industrial levels starting in 1850. • The world is not on track to meet the Paris Agreement target to keep global temperature from exceeding 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels, the upper limit to avoid the worst fallout from climate change including sea level rise, and more intense drought, heat waves and wildfires. • On the current path of carbon dioxide emissions, the temperature could increase by as much 3.6 C this century, according to the IPCC. • In June 2025, global concentrations of carbon dioxide exceeded 430 parts per million, a record high. • Emissions must drop 7.6 per cent per year from 2020 to 2030 to keep temperatures from exceeding 1.5 C and 2.7 per cent per year to stay below 2 C. • There is global scientific consensus that the climate is warming and that humans are the cause. • Scientific information taken from natural sources (such as ice cores, rocks, and tree rings) and from modern equipment (like satellites and instruments) all show the signs of a changing climate. (Sources: United Nations IPCC , World Meteorological Organization , UNEP , NASA , ) A Vancouver Island artist who had to leave from her home studio near an out-of-control wildfire says she remains nervous despite being allowed back this week. Ina-Griet Raatz-von Hirschhausen, whose home is a few kilometres from the Wesley Ridge wildfire near Cameron Lake, says she is waiting a bit longer to bring back half of her art collection, which was taken to a friend's home when her family was told to evacuate late Sunday. She left with her husband and two cats, and says she thought her home was lost as soon as the evacuation notice was issued, calling it 'the very worst moment of the whole thing.' A B.C. Wildfire Service information officer, Madison Dahl, told a news conference Friday that the fire's behaviour overnight was 'minimal' and was monitored by night-vision-equipped helicopters. 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But it's started losing contact with the bedrock below, causing it to shed more ice as it inches backward. It's a change, illustrated in dramatic time lapse photos since 2020, that highlights 'the fragile balance of one of the most well-known glaciers worldwide,' write the authors of the study in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. They expect it to retreat several more kilometres in the next few years. 'We believe that the retreat that we are seeing now, and why it is so extreme in terms of values that we can observe, is because it hasn't been climatically stable for a while now, for over a decade,' said Moritz Koch, a doctoral student at the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and one of the study authors. 'Now we see this very delayed response to climate change as it is slowly but surely detaching from this physical pinning point in the central part of the glacier.' Koch and his team did extensive field work to get the data for their calculations. To measure ice thickness, they flew over the glacier in a helicopter with a radar device suspended beneath. They also used sonar on the lake and satellite information from above. Read the full story here. —The Associated Press Drought conditions have beset Atlantic Canada with wildfires raging in some locales, with no relief in coming days, according to Environment Canada. The conditions are increasing the wildfire risk. Three significant wildfires are already raging in Newfoundland and Labrador where fines for violators of the provincewide fire ban were increased Friday afternoon from $50,000 to $150,000, as well as up to a year in prison. (A first offence previously meant a $75 fine. Now it's $50,000 for a first offence and payment defaulters risk imprisonment of six months.) 'It's very clear that these penalties for violating the regulations needed to be higher, and everyone needs to take this seriously,' Premier John Hogan told CBC News. 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The month of the fire saw 13 suicide and overdose deaths, translating to nearly double the normal suicide and overdose death rates. The study of the Los Angeles fires concluded that in addition to at least 30 deaths attributed to the fire, more than 400 other deaths could be blamed on the event, due to interruptions in health care and other factors. The studies, published in two American Medical Association journals, add 'a really important piece to the understanding of the true health risks from these extreme climatic events,' said Dr. Jonathan Patz, a University of Wisconsin environmental public health researcher who was not involved in the papers. Read the full story here. —The Associated Press While promoting his agency's recently released climate report, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has said that climate change is not making extreme weather more intense and more common. That's counter to authoritative climate science research. His statements come amid a push by the Trump administration to eliminate climate programs and scientist positions and to reduce access to past US-produced scientific reports, while issuing new material that goes against mainstream findings. 'There is now a large body of scientific research documenting that global warming has intensified several types of extreme weather events,' said Noah Diffenbaugh, a professor of Earth system science at Stanford University. In a post this week on X, formerly Twitter, Wright said that reports that 'climate change is making weather more dangerous and severe is just nonsense. That is just NOT true.' He underscored the point on Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro's podcast. Scientists now regularly tease out the effect of climate change on specific heat waves, droughts and rain and flood events. The methods used in what's known as attribution research have been refined over the course of two decades, and build on a much longer history of climate modelling. Read the full story here. —Bloomberg News
Vancouver Sun
02-08-2025
- Vancouver Sun
B.C. climate news: Crews battle 147 wildfires in B.C. Trump cancels plans for offshore wind projects
Here's the latest news concerning climate change and biodiversity loss in B.C. and around the world, from the steps leaders are taking to address the problems, to all the up-to-date science. Check back every Saturday for more climate and environmental news or sign up for our Climate Connected newsletter HERE. • Crews battle 147 wildfires in B.C., with 41 new fires overnight Friday • With fires burning across B.C., is it safe to continue with travel plans? • Alberta heat wave brings added wildfire risk • Trump administration cancels plans to develop new offshore wind projects Human activities like burning fossil fuels and farming livestock are the main drivers of climate change, according to the UN's intergovernmental panel on climate change. This causes heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth's atmosphere, increasing the planet's surface temperature. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. The panel, which is made up of scientists from around the world, including researchers from B.C., has warned for decades that wildfires and severe weather, such as the province's deadly heat dome and catastrophic flooding in 2021, would become more frequent and intense because of the climate emergency. It has issued a code red for humanity and warns the window to limit warming to 1.5 C above pre-industrial times is closing. According to NASA climate scientists, human activities have raised the atmosphere's carbon dioxide content by 50 per cent in less than 200 years, and 'there is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate.' As of July 14, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 429.61 ppm, slightly down from 430.51 ppm last month, according to NOAA data measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory, a global atmosphere monitoring lab in Hawaii. The NOAA notes there has been a steady rise in CO2 from under 320 ppm in 1960. • The Earth is now about 1.3 C warmer than it was in the 1800s. • 2024 was hottest year on record globally, beating the record in 2023. • The global average temperature in 2023 reached 1.48 C higher than the pre-industrial average, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service. In 2024, it breached the 1.5 C threshold at 1.55 C. • The past 10 years (2015-2024) are the 10 warmest on record. • Human activities have raised atmospheric concentrations of CO2 by nearly 49 per cent above pre-industrial levels starting in 1850. • The world is not on track to meet the Paris Agreement target to keep global temperature from exceeding 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels, the upper limit to avoid the worst fallout from climate change including sea level rise, and more intense drought, heat waves and wildfires. • On the current path of carbon dioxide emissions, the temperature could increase by as much 3.6 C this century, according to the IPCC. • In June 2025, global concentrations of carbon dioxide exceeded 430 parts per million, a record high. • Emissions must drop 7.6 per cent per year from 2020 to 2030 to keep temperatures from exceeding 1.5 C and 2.7 per cent per year to stay below 2 C. • There is global scientific consensus that the climate is warming and that humans are the cause. (Sources: United Nations IPCC , World Meteorological Organization , UNEP , NASA , ) Firefighters in B.C. are gearing up for a busy long weekend, as the number of active wildfires jumped to 120 Friday, up from 90 on Thursday. Much of the province is parched from continuing hot and dry conditions. Although heat warnings have been lifted for parts of the B.C. Interior such as the Okanagan and Fraser Canyon, temperatures are still expected to be in the low-to-mid 30s, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada. Heat warnings remained in effect Friday for Fort Nelson, and the North and South Peace regions. Lytton is under an air quality alert because of the wildfire smoke. Meantime, The wildfire near Peachland that forced hundreds of residents to quickly evacuated their homes just days ago is no longer out of control and the evacuation order has been lifted for all residents. On Vancouver Island, an evacuation order was issued for properties in the Nanaimo region including waterfront properties on the north side of Cameron Lake and a portion of Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park. The Wesley Ridge wildfire, which is burning on the north side of Cameron Lake, is considered out of control and has grown to 2.45 square kilometres from 0.2 sq. km. on Thursday. The Nanaimo Regional District on Vancouver Island declared a state of local emergency because of the fire, about 60 kilometres from the City of Nanaimo. Read more on the wildfire situation here. —Tiffany Crawford, The Canadian Press If there were a weekend that could be described as peak summer in B.C., this would be it. Local vacation destinations see a surge of visitors as the cities empty out a little. But with forest fires raging across the province, is it advisable to travel? 'The August long weekend feels like the height of summer for us,' says Ellen Walker-Matthews, CEO of the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association, where a wildfire is burning near Peachland. 'We welcome people to continue with their plans.' The patio at Bliss Bakery in Peachland was busy on Thursday, said owner Barry Yeo. Guests enjoyed baked goods and a water show as helicopters picked up buckets of water from the lake. The bakery has a strong customer base, but business triples in the summer months, he said. 'It should be business as usual this weekend,' he said. Harrison Hot Springs is also open despite a wildfire burning about 20 kilometres away on the eastern shore of Harrison Lake. 'The village and the resort are very much open,' said Erinn Kredba, interim executive-director of Tourism Harrison River Valley. 'This is a long weekend and businesses still need people to come.' Read the full story here. —Glenda Luymes With Edmonton and most of north and central Alberta under heat warnings from Environment Canada, Alberta Wildfire officials enter the long weekend on pins and needles. With daytime temperatures expected to exceed 30 C until a predicted break on Sunday, conditions are all too perfect for the ignition and spread of wildfire. And, it's the long weekend, when many Albertans and visitors to this province will be pitching tents and gathering around campfires. 'The hot weather is driving up the fire danger in most of the province,' said Josee St-Onge, an information officer at Alberta Wildfire. She said the only regions not under increased risk are parts of southern Alberta that have recently received a lot of rain, and the Rocky Mountain region. Not only does the hot weather increase the risk of fires starting, it provides optimum conditions for existing blazes to spread. There are currently 53 wildfires burning in Alberta, 11 of them rated as 'out of control.' —Edmonton Journal The Trump administration is cancelling plans to use large areas of federal waters for new offshore wind development, the latest step to suppress the industry in the United States. More than 3.5 million acres had been designated wind energy areas, the offshore locations deemed most suitable for wind energy development. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is now rescinding all designated wind energy areas in federal waters, announcing on Wednesday an end to setting aside large areas for 'speculative wind development.' Offshore wind lease sales were anticipated off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Maine, New York, California and Oregon, as well as in the central Atlantic. The Biden administration last year had announced a five-year schedule to lease federal offshore tracts for wind energy production. Trump began reversing the country's energy policies after taking office in January. A series of executive orders took aim at increasing oil, gas and coal production. The Republican president has been hostile to renewable energy, particularly offshore wind. One early executive order temporarily halted offshore wind lease sales in federal waters and paused the issuance of approvals, permits and loans for all wind projects. In trying to make a case against wind energy, he has relied on false and misleading claims about the use of wind power in the U.S. and around the world. Read the full story here. —The Associated Press A new report from the U.S. Department of Energy says projections of future global warming are exaggerated, while benefits from higher levels of carbon dioxide such as more productive farms are overlooked. It concludes, at odds with the scientific mainstream, that policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions risk doing more harm than good. Released Tuesday, the report is part of an effort by the Trump administration to try to end the U.S. government's authority to regulate greenhouse gases. It's the output of scientists known for contradicting the consensus embodied in volumes of research by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose work is approved by virtually every nation. Publishing an alternate approach to the science of global warming on the same day that the Environmental Protection Agency said it plans to revoke the endangerment finding — a determination that greenhouse gases harm public health and welfare — marks a step up in the administration's war on regulations. Since its adoption in 2009, the endangerment finding has become the bedrock of many US environmental rules. Climate experts say it will hobble the country's efforts to rein in rising temperatures and lessen the impacts, such as more intense storms, droughts and wildfires. The federal government's own research shows climate-fuelled extreme weather is already causing $150 billion in losses a year in the U.S. Read the full story here. —Bloomberg News The City of Ottawa is four years behind in releasing greenhouse gas emissions reports and environment groups are left wondering just how much fossil fuels the city burns. Usually, the city releases public reports tracking the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced within Ottawa, but the last report was released for the 2020 emissions inventory findings. That 2020 report said community emissions had decreased 15 per cent since 2012, but a further reduction of five to six per cent would be needed to meet Ottawa's climate targets in the next five to 10 years. Angela Keller-Herzog, executive director of the local environmental activist group CAFES Ottawa, says the city has a commitment to make those reports to the public. 'It's really important for countries and cities to be tracking their greenhouse gas emissions,' she said. 'If we're going to do something about the problem, we need to figure out where our emissions are coming from. 'Unfortunately, in the last few years, the city has been somewhat neglectful.' Read the full story here. —Ottawa Citizen Carrying her one-year-old son on her back, Tsering Dolma herds a dozen yaks into a stonewalled corral as evening approaches in the desolate mountains of India's remote Ladakh region. A few herders tending livestock are the only people visible for miles on the windswept plains where patchy grass gives way to gravelly foothills and stony peaks. For generations, herders such as Dolma have relied on snowmelt that trickled down the mountain folds to sustain the high-altitude pastures where their herds graze. But now, herders say, the snow and rain are less predictable, and there is less grass for yaks to eat. 'Earlier, it used to snow and rain, but now it has reduced a lot,' the 32-year-old says. 'Even the winters are getting warmer than before.' Much of the herding, milking and gathering of wool is done by women in Ladakh, an area near Tibet that was part of the ancient Silk Route. It's work mostly done by hand. In another valley, Kunzias Dolma is busy making tea with yak milk and checking her yak butter, while spinning her Buddhist prayer wheel with her right hand. The 73-year-old, who's not related to Tsering Dolma, has spent her life around yaks, working long hours to make products from their milk and sewing blankets from their wool. But that way of life is threatened as climate change makes Ladakh less hospitable to yaks and many in the younger generation seek other jobs. Read the full story here. —The Associated Press
