Greenpeace and McDonald’s have welcomed an extension to put a freeze soya farming.

Greenpeace, together with McDonald’s and other multinationals, has welcomed an extension by the Brazilian Government to continue the freeze on soya farming – and its proposed temporary suspension of the beef and timber industries – in an effort to curb Amazon deforestation and greenhouse emissions.

Soya farmed in the Amazon is primarily used in processed foods, and has been linked to mass deforestation and the use of slave labour – and tracked back directly to the plates of European consumers. Consequently, soya consumer companies such as McDonald’s, Marks & Spencer and Asda have become actively engaged and have joined the call for the Brazilian Government to extend the suspension on its farming.

The moratorium, which came into effect in 2006, has been extended for a further year until July 2009. Paulo Adario, Greenpeace’s Amazon campaign coordinator, commented on the extension: “The decision to extend the moratorium against the backdrop of rising commodity prices and the food crises shows that government and industry now understand that it is possible to protect the forest, combat climate change and still ensure food production.”

Soya farmers had placed pressure on the government to end the freeze on their production, citing the global food crisis and rising agricultural commodity prices as the reason for their objection.

However, Greenpeace believes that even a one year extension of the ban may not be long enough to protect the country from deforestation, which they report makes up 75% of Brazil’s greenhouse emissions and confirms the country as the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter.

The proposed inclusion of beef and timber industries in the ban – which, along with soya farming, are the main causes of Amazon destruction – could be the key to achieving rainforest protection, according to Greenpeace. “If an Amazon deforestation firewall is created, with a series of moratoria covering soya, timber and beef, this could buy the necessary time to put in place permanent protection; protection for the forest, the biodiversity, the people and ultimately the climate,” explained Adario.

Click here to read Greenpeace’s report, Eating up the Amazon, to find out more about the links between soya and rainforest destruction.