  Credit: treehugger.com
By Jaya Ramachandran
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
BRUSSELS (IDN) - Civil society organizations are calling for phasing out industrial plantations of soy and instead promoting agro-ecological farming systems of local crops.
They are also pleading for genuine land reforms and land rights in soy producing countries and reducing overconsumption and waste in the industrialised world. Their five-point charter of demands calls for abandoning Intensive meat, dairy and egg production systems and moving towards low-input livestock systems.
Stopping the promotion of agro-fuel production as a climate solution for rich countries and instead developing better transport systems that reduce demand for energy and fuel is equally essential, some 235 civil society groups led by the Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) and the Corporate Europe Observatory say.
A proposed new label for 'responsible' soy will not stop deforestation, the civil society groups from across the globe warned in a letter June 8, ahead of a conference set to finalise the labelling scheme in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
They have written to oppose the Round Table for Responsible Soy (RTRS) certification scheme, which they say could facilitate soy oil being used to meet the EU target for bio-fuels. This is despite evidence that soy biodiesel is worse for climate emissions than fossil fuels.
According to the RTRS principles agreed previously, 'responsible' soy can be grown on land that has been deforested as recently as May 2009. 'Responsible' soy can even be grown on land that will be deforested in the future.
The RTRS is trying to gain accreditation under the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED) that contains the widely opposed 10 percent agro-fuel target. However recent research from the European Commission showed that soy bio-fuels can cause four times more emissions than fossil fuels.
The 'responsible' soy scheme will also label genetically modified (GM) soy as 'responsible', despite growing evidence of its risks to human health and the environment. GM Soy resistant to the herbicide glyphosate is increasing the use of other dangerous chemicals as weeds develop resistance to glyphosate.
Figures from the United States Department of Agriculture show that 26 percent more pesticides are used on GM crops compared to conventional crops. In Brazil glyphosate use has increased almost 80 percent in the years of planting.
These chemicals have had devastating impacts on local communities in South America. The spread of soy has also led to violent evictions of small farmers [4].
The RTRS label has also been rejected by major players in the Brazilian soy industry, such as ABIOVE and APROSOJA, who are reluctant to sign up to even weak rules on preventing deforestation.
ABIOVE representing 72 percent of Brazil's soybean processing volume and APROSOJA which represents soy producers from Mato Grosso state -- responsible for around 30 percent of national production in Brazil -- have turned their backs on the RTRS due to disagreements on the inclusion of even the very weak deforestation clause.
Brazil is the second largest global producer of soybeans after the United States, followed by Argentina and then Paraguay. Production is increasing in all three countries, with a 170 per cent increase in Brazil in the last 15 years.
Kirtana Chandrasekaran from Friends of the Earth International said: "This scheme is a farce -- it will brand genetically modified soy grown on deforested land as responsible. Companies that use it will just anger civil society and consumers in Europe and South America who are demanding GM-free food and genuine solutions to deforestation and climate change."
Vast tracts of tropical forest and grasslands are being destroyed every year in South America due to large scale soy production for animal feeds and bio-fuels in Europe. The 27 European Union countries use over 16 million hectares of farmland every year, mostly from South America, to feed its livestock and increasingly to fuel its cars.
"Rather than giving a 'responsible' label to an irresponsible product, we must overhaul factory farming in Europe. This would be good news for farmers, consumers and the environment and will reduce Europe’s global footprint. We need action to do this, not a green scam," Chandrasekaran added:
Nina Holland from the Brussels-based Corporate Europe Observatory said: "In South America communities are fighting against soy expansion that takes ever more land and resources. Only corporations such as Monsanto and Cargill stand to benefit from industrial soy production and they are also the predominant force behind this green-washing label." (IDN-InDepthNews/08.06.2010)
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Copyright © 2010 IDN-InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters
External links:
http://www.responsiblesoy.org
http://www.corporateeurope.org/system/files/files/openletter/2010_RTRS+Letter+-+Final-signatures+%281%29.pdf
http://www.foeeurope.org/press/2008/Feb13_GM_crops_pesticide_poverty.html
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/livestock_impacts.pdf
http://www.nevedi.nl/UserFiles/File/ABIOVE%20uit%20RTRS.pdf
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/livestock_impacts.pdf
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