A decade ago, soya was being hailed as a superfood but in recent years, numerous issues surrounding deforestation and its impact on health have come to light
Once credited with power to prevent cancer and combat high cholesterol, over the last few years, evidence that soya is far from a superfood has begun to emerge. And it’s not just the potentially negative health impact of the bean that has former supporters up in arms: it’s the environmental impact. In the UK we rely heavily on soya, or soy, and it's not just for vegetarian food. It is a hidden product in many foods and everyday items such as soap. It is a cheap source of protein for people as well as animals and according to Greenpeace, 80 per cent of soya worldwide is used for the livestock industry. WWF add that the UK consumption alone requires an area the size of Yorkshire to be planted with soya every year. So how did soya go from super crop to super bad?
Deforestation and slavery
Brazil, the second biggest grower and the biggest exporter of soya, is such a big player in the industry that there are major concerns about how this is affecting the Amazon Rainforest. According to Greenpeace, in 2005 around 1.2 million hectares of soya was planted in the Brazilian rainforest. Sarah Shoaka from Greenpeace's Forest Network says that deforestation has been decreasing on the whole in Brazil since 2008.
This is mainly because of the enforcement of a soya moratorium that bans soya produced as a result of deforestation from entering the market place. However, Shoraka warns that this positive trend may be changing: 'The whole of last year deforestation in the main areas for soya including Matto Grosso – the state which is the biggest soya producer – increased for the first time in a while.' Greenpeace think the main reason for this is proposed changes to the controversial Forest Code which governs how much forest each farm has to protect from the land that they own. 'They want to give an amnesty to people that have deforested in the past and obviously that has created a big incentive for people to deforest before the law goes through.'
Along with deforestation, there are also concerns about the use of agrochemicals in soya production – risking pollution to water supplies and soil – as well as labour issues and tension over resources. Greenpeace's Eating Up the Amazon report also says, chillingly, that modern-day slavery is also a serious problem in the region. So what’s being done about it? To combat the issues associated with soya production, the WWF and others set up the Roundtable on Responsible Soy Association (RTRS) in 2006 to provide an opportunity for stakeholders to join together to find solutions. They offer a certification scheme to businesses involved in soya production. But Shoraka says she does not see RTRS as a viable solution. 'While certification schemes can help companies trace back where their soya is coming, from it isn’t at all for protecting the forest.' The ultimate goal, she argues, should be a Brazilian law that prohibits all forms of deforestation.
Ben Zeehandelaar, Outreach and Communications Manager at RTRS, says it is strict on deforestation. 'If a company does something against our objectives or standards then the company can not continue with RTRS,’ he insists. ‘If a company is certified and an auditor finds that it is deforesting part of its property that it shouldn’t, they lose their certification.'
He is aware of the criticisms made against RTRS but says there is no real multi-stakeholder alternative to it that can be part of the mainstream value chain. Genetically modified (GM) soya is another issue that divides opinion. RTRS includes GM soya, and Zeehandelaar says this is because the issues around deforestation such as the use of agrochemicals and social impacts are just as relevant to GM soya as they are to non GM. 'To leave out genetically modified would leave out a large part of the problems that occur today,' he explains.
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