Brazil’s Amazon Soy Moratorium reduced deforestation

Heilmayr, Robert; Rausch, Lisa; Munger, Jacob; Gibbs, Holly K.

doi:10.1038/s43016-020-00194-5

Cited by 125 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Quantification of soybean expansion as a direct driver of deforestation can facilitate commodity-specific conservation policy design, implementation and monitoring. The decline of soybean-driven deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has been widely attributed to the implementation of the Amazon Soy Moratorium 13 – 16 , 22 . To augment the voluntary moratorium, the Ministry of Environment and the Central Bank of Brazil eliminated agricultural credits to farmers and ranchers within counties with the highest deforestation rates 28 .…”

Section: Implications For Conservation Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A successful example is the Amazon Soy Moratorium, a voluntary agreement signed by traders who committed not to buy soybeans sowed on deforested lands in the Brazilian Amazon after 2008 13 . A number of studies have investigated the role of soybean in driving deforestation in Brazil as well as the effectiveness of forest-protection policies 14 – 22 . For example, Gibbs et al (2015) analyzed satellite data from before and after the Amazon Soy Moratorium and demonstrated that it was effective in reducing deforestation 14 .…”

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Massive soybean expansion in South America since 2000 and implications for conservation

et al. 2021

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A prominent goal of policies mitigating climate change and biodiversity loss is to achieve zero-deforestation in the global supply chain of key commodities, such as palm oil and soybean. However, the extent and dynamics of deforestation driven by commodity expansion are largely unknown. Here we mapped annual soybean expansion in South America between 2000 and 2019 by combining satellite observations and sample field data. From 2000–2019, the area cultivated with soybean more than doubled from 26.4 Mha to 55.1 Mha. Most soybean expansion occurred on pastures originally converted from natural vegetation for cattle production. The most rapid expansion occurred in the Brazilian Amazon, where soybean area increased more than 10-fold, from 0.4 Mha to 4.6 Mha. Across the continent, 9% of forest loss was converted to soybean by 2016. Soy-driven deforestation was concentrated at the active frontiers, nearly half located in the Brazilian Cerrado. Efforts to limit future deforestation must consider how soybean expansion may drive deforestation indirectly by displacing pasture or other land uses. Holistic approaches that track land use across all commodities coupled with vegetation monitoring are required to maintain critical ecosystem services.

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Section: Implications For Conservation Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Massive soybean expansion in South America since 2000 and implications for conservation

et al. 2021

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“…In the economic sphere, several factors have been reported, such as the development of road infrastructure that enables economic activity [64][65][66][67][68][69], livestock production, mainly beef cattle with the expansion of pastures [70][71][72][73], the increase in monocultures [74][75][76][77], and illegal logging [78][79][80][81][82]. In the political sphere, much research has assessed the effects of government actions on reducing deforestation in the Amazon [22,63,[83][84][85] or industry-led initiatives, for example the soy moratorium [86][87][88][89]. In addition to land tenure insecurity, another set of social factors showed association with deforestation, such as population pressure [90][91][92], low income [93], and land conflicts [94][95][96][97].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship between Land Property Security and Brazilian Amazon Deforestation in the Mato Grosso State during the Period 2013–2018

et al. 2021

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This research examines the relations between forest decrease and legal property security in Mato Grosso State, Brazil. The study area encompasses 133,090.4 km2 of the Amazonian biome, belonging to the Brazilian Legal Amazon, located at the arc of deforestation where agriculture and cattle ranching compete with the native vegetation cover. Cadastral monitoring and certification of productive land plots are Brazil’s public policies to implement to tackle these environmental challenges. In this context, we crossed the Land Management System (SIGEF) dataset launched in 2013 from the National Institute for Agrarian Reform and the Amazon Deforestation Monitoring Program (PRODES) dataset from the Brazilian National Institute of Space Research (INPE). The analysis considered the 2013–2018 period with public and private land plots and evaluated the differences in smallholders and large landowners’ deforesting behavior. The results demonstrate that the primacy of certified properties was in private land (94%), with a small portion of the public land (6%). Most properties have <80% forest coverage on certification, corresponding to 85% on private properties and 95% on public properties. This fact is important because environmental legislation in the Amazon region establishes a legal reserve of 80% in forest areas. The results show that the smaller the property, the greater the percentage of proportional deforestation in the certification. In the biennium, considering before and after certification, a proportion of 8% of private properties and 28% of public properties with vegetation cover had deforestation. The results demonstrate the tendency for smaller properties to deforest proportionally more than larger ones. The annual difference series in properties registered in 2015 demonstrates that the highest deforestation occurrence was in the year of certification in private properties and the subsequent year in public properties. The SIGEF system is relatively new, requiring more time to establish a consolidated trend. The combination of property rights and effective compliance with environmental legislation allows the conservation of the forest. However, it is essential to improve inspection. Land ownership inserts the owner into a system of rules to properly use natural resources, constituting a legal instrument to guide human action.

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“…CC BY 4.0 License. (Fehlenberg et al, 2017;Heilmayr et al, 2020). Other grain legumes, such as faba bean (Vicia faba L.), chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.), play an important role in improving soil quality as "green manure" when they are rotated or used as intercrops between cereals depending on the region (Williams et al, 2014;Denton et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling symbiotic biological nitrogen fixation in grain legumes globally by LPJ-GUESS

Olin

Anthoni

et al. 2021

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Abstract. Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) from grain legumes is significant importance in global agricultural ecosystems. Crops with BNF capability are expected to support the need to increase food production while reducing nitrogen (N) fertilizer input for agriculture sustainability, but quantification of N fixing rates and BNF crop yields remains inadequate. Here we incorporate two legume crops (soybean and faba bean) with BNF into a dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS (Lund-Potsdam-Jena General Ecosystem Simulator). The performance of this new implementation is evaluated against observations from a range of water and N management trials. LPJ-GUESS generally captures the observed response to these management practices on legume biomass production, soil N uptake and N fixation, despite some deviations from observations in some cases. Globally, the simulated BNF is dominated by soil moisture and temperature, as well as amounts of N fertilizer addition. Annual inputs through BNF are modelled to be 11.6±2.2 Tg N for soybean and 5.6±1.0 Tg N for all pulses, with a total fixation of 17.2±2.9 Tg N yr-1 for all grain legumes during the period 1981–2016 on global scale. Our estimates show a good agreement with some previous statistical estimates but are relatively high compared to some estimates for pulses. This study highlights the importance of accounting for legume N fixation process when modelling C-N interactions in agricultural ecosystems, particularly when it comes to account for the combined effects of climate and land-use change on global terrestrial N cycle.

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Brazil’s Amazon Soy Moratorium reduced deforestation

Cited by 125 publications

References 61 publications

Massive soybean expansion in South America since 2000 and implications for conservation

Massive soybean expansion in South America since 2000 and implications for conservation

Relationship between Land Property Security and Brazilian Amazon Deforestation in the Mato Grosso State during the Period 2013–2018

Modelling symbiotic biological nitrogen fixation in grain legumes globally by LPJ-GUESS

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