Environmental groups condemn new laws threatening soybean restrictions in Brazil’s Amazon

BRASILIA, Brazil — Dozens of environmental nonprofits issued a manifesto Thursday condemning new laws in Brazilian states that threaten to dismantle the Amazon soy moratorium — a landmark voluntary agreement banning trade in soybeans from recently deforested areas. However, new laws recently enacted in the Amazon states of Mato Grosso, Brazil’s largest soybean producer, and neighboring Rondonia have cut tax incentives for processing and trade companies that adhere to the agreement. “This means penalizing companies committed to ending deforestation, promoting the continued expansion of agribusiness in Amazon forest areas, creating subsidies for deforestation and discriminating against the granting of tax incentives based on companies’ environmental commitment,” Thursday’s declaration stated. A 2020 study in the journal Nature Food found that the agreement, in combination with public policies, contributed to the steepest reduction of deforestation recorded in Brazil, between 2003 and 2016 In a written response, the government of Mato Grosso said it enacted the law because the moratorium is harsher than Brazil´s legislation, which already has “the world’s strictest environmental regulations.” It also stated that most of the state is covered by original rainforest trees and plants.