Most deforestation on soy farms in Mato Grosso was illegal, considering the period from August 2008 to July 2019, points out a new analysis by the ICV (Instituto Centro de Vida).
According to the study, about 92% of deforestation in properties intended for soybean cultivation did not have authorization for plant suppression. A similar value was found for all deforestation observed in the state in the same period. For a deforestation to be legal, it must be communicated and authorized by the environmental authorities.
The researchers point out, however, that most (more than 50%) of the deforestation identified was concentrated in only 176 properties with soy, which were mostly large farms with more than 1,500 hectares.
The researchers used deforestation data from Inpe (National Institute for Space Research), and public data on rural properties derived from Mato Grosso’s Rural Environmental Registry system, INCRA and the national CAR (Rural Environmental Registry). Data on deforestation authorizations were obtained from the Mato Grosso Environment Department. Information from Ibama and again from the secretariat were used to observe embargoed areas. Finally, soy planting areas were obtained by the Mapbiomas project.
Ana Paula Valdiones, coordinator of the ICV’s environmental transparency program, says that this shows the importance of having mechanisms to separate landowners who follow the law from those who contaminate the production chain with deforestation.
Deforestation on soy farms is concentrated on properties located in the cerrado biome. Despite this, most of the embargoed areas identified by the ICV were on properties in the Amazon. Another highlight regarding action against illegal activities is worth mentioning: embargoes were applied (by Ibama or by the state environment department) in only 30% of the properties that produce soy and had illegal deforestation observed.
According to the analysis, these data indicate the threat to the cerrado caused by the expansion of soy and deforestation.
Mato Grosso is the largest soybean producer in the country, with an area occupied, in 2020, of 10 million hectares, according to the ICV. In 2021, the absolute majority of soybeans produced in the state were exported — mainly to China, followed by the European Union.
Brazil has been mainly charged by European countries to stop deforestation in their biomes, especially in the Amazon.
In the cerrado, as shown by data from Mato Grosso, soybean stands out. It is in this biome that most of the country’s soybean production is concentrated, which is accompanied, to some extent, by deforestation. From August 2020 to July 2021, the cerrado lost 8,531 km² of vegetation. In comparison, in the Amazon deforestation was 13,200 km². The problem is that the cerrado is about half the size of the world’s largest rainforest, but deforestation levels are just as high.
It can be said that the Amazon has more spheres of protection compared to the Cerrado. The 2012 forest code, for example, provides for a larger area to be preserved (80%) within properties located in the rainforest. As for the Cerrado, the areas that cannot be cut down vary from 20% to 35% (if it is an area within the Legal Amazon). In addition, the Amazon rainforest has more protected areas.
Greater protection for the Amazon is completed with the so-called Soy Moratorium (from 2006), from which the sale of products originating in areas with deforestation was prohibited. This agreement managed to considerably reduce Amazonian deforestation related to soy cultivation.
But even the moratorium has its weaknesses. It works by blocking only illegal deforestation that has taken place in the area where soy is planted. That is, if the farm that produces soy in a legal area has illegal deforestation on some portion of land, this illegality is not considered by the moratorium.
And this kind of finding was observed by the researchers. Taking into account only 2019 and the Mato Grosso Amazon, 75,000 hectares were illegally destroyed in areas used for soybean planting. Another 118,000 hectares were illegally felled inside properties that produce soy, but outside the area where the plant is cultivated.
A survey published in the journal Science in 2020 pointed out that a small portion of properties in the Amazon and in the cerrado contaminate at least 17% of the meat exported to the European Union with deforestation, in addition to 20% of the soybeans.
According to the ICV researchers, it is necessary to update the mechanism and start to consider the entire property that produces soy.
The institute also points out the lack of control mechanisms for deforestation associated with soy in the cerrado and points to the Green Protocol of Grains, in Pará, as a possible example that could serve as an inspiration to expand the analysis of irregularities in rural properties.
“The cerrado is discovered by a grain chain agreement that protects and aims to combat deforestation in this biome”, says Valdiones.
Agribusiness organizations and their representatives are often opposed to the idea of ​​expanding practices similar to the moratorium to the Cerrado.
At the end of 2020, Abiove (Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries) stated, in a note, that it had received “with indignation” the statement from more than a hundred European companies that demanded zero deforestation in purchases related to the cerrado.
“In practice, SOS Cerrado wants to impose a moratorium, demanding that soy planted in a deforested area in the Cerrado from December 2020 onwards is not acquired by Abiove associates, and that an origin and flow control system be established to prove the effectiveness of this policy,” the note read.
According to the entity, an abrupt cut-off date was not part of Abiove’s commitments.
In 2019 and 2020, Cargill, a multinational food production and processing company, had also taken a stand against moratorium practices in the cerrado.
“It is important to advance in the dialogue and negotiations on a protocol for this biome. Of course, the criteria need to be discussed with the actors that will compose this agreement, also understanding society’s interest in protecting this biome, as well as the Amazon”, he says. Valdiones.
The cerrado is discovered by a grain chain agreement that protects and aims to combat deforestation in this biome
The report sought out the Mato Grosso State Secretariat for the Environment (Sema) and questioned whether the efforts aimed at combating deforestation in the cerrado are inferior in relation to those destined for the Amazon.
“All biomes are monitored by high-resolution satellite,” Sema said in a statement. “The inspection criteria are the regions that concentrate most of the illegal deforestation, which has historically been the region of the extreme north of Mato Grosso. [área do bioma amazônico].”
Sema also stated that the data pointed out in the ICV study are “prior to the current management, and do not reflect the advances in inspection, monitoring and assessment achieved from 2019”.
“Mato Grosso implemented the high-resolution Planet satellite monitoring system in 2019. With new technology and investment in repression, prevention and accountability, the state increased the number of assessments of environmental crimes by 550% in 2021 compared to the previous year. year 2019”, says the secretary, in a note.
The environmental agency also says that the high number of assessments affects past deforestation. The secretariat ends the note by stating that the progress in CAR analyzes also helps in the accountability process.
Despite this, according to data from Prodes, an Inpe program, deforestation in Mato Grosso has not stopped increasing. In 2019, it was 1,702 km², in 2020 it was 1,779 km² and last year, 2,263 km².
The report also contacted the Ministry of the Environment, but received no response at the time of publishing this report.
