How about a lobbying campaign to get soy bean producers (i.e. the manufacturers of Soy Milk and Tofu) to declare themselves "Amazon Safe"... much like the "Dolphin friendly" Tuna?

Whilst I appreciate that this would not stop Amazonian grown Soy reaching the large agricultural feed market, it would highlight the issue in the first instance, and therefore raise awareness and make it unnacceptable in all markets.

Just an idea.

In newspaper Estado de São Paulo...
The Brazilian government has granted all people cutting trees
illegaly - in the departments Pará and Sergipe are 220.000 km2 illegaly
cut - amnesty. And they are entitled to agricultural subsidies, given by
Lula!!!

Argument of secretary of invironment João Paulo Capobianco: the trees are
gone, thats a fact. No need to whine. And further, the forest is gone,
plenty space for cattle breeding and
agriculture.

Fred Opdam

News of the large scale deforestation impacts of industrial soy are alarming to say the least.
Avoiding products which contain soy produced unsustainably will be difficult -it seems soy is in so many products that are not obvious. Here's an interesting link re soy products : http://www.soynewuses.org/ProductsGuide/Default.aspx
If governments would get real about eco-certification, consumers could make informed purchasing decisions. Lobby your governments for eco-labelling and declaration of source of product.

The call to action is commendable. Please note that each of us can make a difference with a simple change in lifestyle. As with so many of the planet's problems, a decline in meat consumption would alleviate this one, as it would decrease the demand for soy to feed livestock. A holistic, not a piecemeal approach is called for.

Ummm...yeah...let's boycott other parts of the world. Wonderful...maybe, instead of boycotting, we could stop having so many children and use our farm land instead of having to rely on other countries. Stop whining and start fixing the problems here...starting with bans on more than one child and stopping immigration. I swear, you drag a couple illegal immigrants into the street for a good 'ol classic stoning and immigration will go down immediately. Stop being such wusses America and get some back-bone.

P.S. - And for you whack-job hippies that think I'm joking. I'm not. My next vacation will be to Japan...to kill whalers. Then to Sumatra...to kill poachers.

Of course, other than Brazil the main sources of soy beans are USA and Argentina and while Brazil's soybeans are mostly non-GMO, USA and Argentina's are mostly GMO.
GMO soybeans have been shown to kill rats and make surviving rats sterile -
http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/Newsletter/July2007-Toxins-ReproductiveFailur/index.cfm
www.i-sis.org.uk/GM_Soya_Fed_Rats.php

So boycotting Amazonian soybeans is fine but make sure to also boycott GMO (genetically modified) soybeans.

It is very important not to turn people away from direct Soy based food products. The best way to reduce demand on soy production it to reduce meat consumption.
Her's a quote from another web site: "Number of Human beings who could be fed by the grain and soybeans eaten by U. S. livestock: 1,300,000,000".
Another one is: "It takes 16 pounds of soybeans to produce a pound of beef! Just not eating beef makes a HUGE difference.".

This is the main reason I became vegetarian 8 years ago.
I now have a healthier and very tasty diet.

The vast majority of soybeans are fed to animals. The best way to boycott soy production in the Amazon is to go vegetarian.

Organic soy in soymilk and tofu does not come from the Amazon!

Hi Glen,

Here are the comments of Bunge on sustainability.

Sincerely,

Bill Boteler

From: Sustainability@Bunge.com [mailto:Sustainability@Bunge.com]
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2008 4:19 PM
Subject: Bunge's commitment to promoting responsible agriculture

Thank you for contacting us with your concerns about deforestation. We would like to provide you with information about Bunge's commitment to promoting responsible agriculture.

Steady population growth is leading to increased demand for food in China, India and other nations. As a global agribusiness company, Bunge brings crops from farmers in the most productive agricultural regions to the world market, helping get food to people in both industrialized and developing nations.

While meeting the world's demand for food is necessary, it brings environmental considerations that we can't ignore. Agriculture must expand in a sustainable way, and Bunge is working to help ensure that it does.

Today, we focus most of our sustainability activities in Brazil, where agriculture represents a significant part of the economy. We are part of an industry group that implemented a moratorium on purchasing soy from newly deforested areas in the Amazon biome. We are also part of a group, which includes environmental organizations, farmers, government and other companies, working to find solutions that balance agricultural production with environmental protection in the region. In addition to these efforts, we also promote responsible production through hundreds of field meetings with farmers each year, and we maintain dedicated environmental projects and partnerships.

Bunge is committed to promoting fair labor practices in our supply chain. We are a signatory of the International Labor Organization's Brazilian anti-forced labor pact. We actively monitor government farm labor reports and will stop doing business with properties that are found to be in violation of the law.

We are also a member of the Round Table on Responsible Soy and the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil, although we do not currently operate any palm oil plantations or processing facilities. These organizations are creating global principles and practices for environmentally and socially responsible soy and palm production, processing and trading.

While government biofuel mandates have created additional demand for agricultural products, Bunge sees itself as a food company first. We maintain some minority interests in corn ethanol and biodiesel plants, but our primary role is to supply feedstocks to these industries. We see more promise in sugar-based ethanol, in part because of its superior energy efficiency. Moving forward, new technologies that use non-food crops will be needed to increase the potential of biofuels and reduce their impact on the environment and the food supply.

To learn more about Bunge's business and our sustainability efforts, please visit www.bunge.com. There you can read about our commitment to environmentally responsible agriculture and download our most recent Brazil Sustainability Report.

Frankly, Ethanol is the biggest threat to the Amazon. Sugar cane used to produce ethanal has increased land values to astronomical levels in Brazil. Rain forests are being burned down at faster rate in the name of Ethanol. In the US our aquafers are being depleted for the same reason. Yet Ethanol has no net advantage in terms of energy consumption. All in the name of the great global warming scam. Corporate and political power trumps real science again. Ironically the environmentalists are unwittingly cooperating in the scam which is actually harming the environment more.

we are all powerless, if global warming was a true threat surely deforestation would stop tomorrow. Tragic!