Current:Home > MyAgribusiness Giant Cargill Is in Activists’ Crosshairs for Its Connections to Deforestation in Bolivia-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Agribusiness Giant Cargill Is in Activists’ Crosshairs for Its Connections to Deforestation in Bolivia
View Date:2024-12-23 19:48:27
Cargill, the world’s largest agribusiness company—and the United States’ largest privately held company—is coming under yet more scrutiny from advocacy groups that have traced its business operations to recently cut tropical forests in Bolivia.
On Wednesday, the group Global Witness released a report showing that the Minnesota-based company has been buying soy grown on 50,000 acres of deforested land in the Chiquitano Forest, a tropical dry forest in the eastern part of the country. Bolivia has suffered some of the highest deforestation rates in the world, but has blocked efforts to slow down the cutting of its forests, which researchers say are critical repositories of biodiversity and carbon.
“Clearing land for agricultural purposes is the main driver of tropical deforestation and Bolivia has been going through a deforestation crisis over the last ten years,” said Alexandria Reid, a senior global policy advisory with Global Witness. “It has the third-fastest rate of tropical forest loss after Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and soy is the main culprit.”
Cargill, which has been buying soy in the country for decades, ranks as the largest or second largest buyer of Bolivian soy in recent years.
The Global Witness investigation suggests that the company’s dominance there could expand. In an internal company map from 2018 that was leaked to Global Witness researchers, Cargill identifies another 7.4 million acres where it could potentially source soy.
In the new report, Global Witness traces Cargill purchases of soy to five large farm colonies where forests have been cut since 2017. The group procured receipts from local middlemen, showing that Cargill purchased the soy from land that satellite data indicates has recently been deforested.
Cargill did not respond to an inquiry from Inside Climate News, but in its response to Global Witness, the company said the soy it purchased from those farms likely came from acreage that had been cleared before 2017. The company said it investigates all allegations and regularly blocks suppliers that are not in compliance with its policies.
Cargill is one of the biggest buyers and traders of soy in the world, with much of the commodity flowing to Europe and Asia, largely as animal feed. The company has long come under fire for sourcing soy from other important ecosystems, including the Amazon and Cerrado in Brazil.
Last year, Cargill and 13 other companies pledged to end deforestation in the Amazon, Cerrado and Chaco ecosystems by 2025, but the agreement did not specifically include the Chiquitano. Climate and environmental advocates criticized the agreement, saying it was not ambitious enough, and noted that the companies had previously committed to stopping deforestation by 2020 and had failed, even by their own admission.
Bolivia has the ninth-largest tropical primary forest in the world, but has adopted policies that have encouraged agricultural expansion, making it a deforestation hotspot. In 2019, farmers eager to clear land for cattle and soy production set fires that ended up consuming vast swaths of the Chiquitano.
During recent negotiations to stop deforestation in the Amazon, the Bolivian government blocked efforts to implement a binding agreement between countries that are home to the rainforest.
Bolivia became the first country to recognize the rights of nature in national legislation enacted in 2010 and 2012. “This was no small achievement,” the new report said, “but these laws did not prevent record-high levels of tropical forest loss in Bolivia in 2022.”
veryGood! (639)
Related
- Sister Wives’ Madison Brush Details Why She Went “No Contact” With Dad Kody Brown
- Paris Jackson's NSFW 2024 Oscar Party Look Will Make Your Jaw Drop
- Report: Workers are living further from employer, more are living 50 miles from the office
- Royal Expert Omid Scobie Weighs in On Kate Middleton Photo Controversy
- Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight odds will shift the longer the heavyweight bout goes
- Florida rivals ask courts to stop online sports gambling off tribal lands
- Why Christina Applegate Is “Kind of in Hell” Amid Battle With Multiple Sclerosis
- Breaking glass ceilings: the women seizing opportunities in automotive engineering
- Satellite images and documents indicate China working on nuclear propulsion for new aircraft carrier
- Paris Jackson's NSFW 2024 Oscar Party Look Will Make Your Jaw Drop
Ranking
- Advance Auto Parts is closing hundreds of stores in an effort to turn its business around
- Investigation says Ex-Colorado forensic scientist manipulated DNA test results in hundreds of cases
- Photo agencies remove latest Princess Kate picture over 'manipulation,' fueling conspiracy
- Lionel Messi does not play in Inter Miami's loss to CF Montreal. Here's the latest update.
- Katharine Hayhoe’s Post-Election Advice: Fight Fear, Embrace Hope and Work Together
- List of winners so far at the 2024 Oscars
- Why Wes Anderson, Leonardo DiCaprio and More Stars Were MIA From the Oscars
- Mountain lions lurking: 1 killed by car in Oceanside, California, as sightings reported
Recommendation
-
32-year-old Maryland woman dies after golf cart accident
-
Biggest moments from the 2024 Oscars, from Emma Stone's surprise win to naked John Cena
-
The Livestock Industry’s Secret Weapons: Expert Academics
-
Mountain lions lurking: 1 killed by car in Oceanside, California, as sightings reported
-
J.Crew Outlet Quietly Drops Their Black Friday Deals - Save Up to 70% off Everything, Styles Start at $12
-
Bradley Cooper Gets Roasted During Post-Oscars Abbott Elementary Cameo
-
Why Wes Anderson, Leonardo DiCaprio and More Stars Were MIA From the Oscars
-
Chris Evans and Wife Alba Baptista Make Marvelous Red Carpet Debut at Vanity Fair Oscars Party