Mar 27th, 2024
2 mins
The Joint Research Council (JRC) have recently published a report entitled: ‘Deforestation and forest degradation in the Amazon – Update for year 2022 and link to soy trade’.
The report shows that altogether, 35,480 km2 of forest were either deforested or degraded in the Pan-Amazon in 2022, constituting an increase of 14.9% with respect to 2021. In the past 22 years, the Pan-Amazon has lost 12.6% of its intact humid forest of 1999 either by deforestation (8.0%) or forest degradation (4.6%).
Deforestation in the Amazon region is mostly driven by agricultural expansion for commodities such as cattle, soy and (indirectly) maize. Forest degradation is partially driven by selective logging of wood (the other main driver being fires). Soy and soy-derived products are included, amongst other commodities, in the EU regulation on deforestation free products (EUDR).
The report which can be found here discusses the relationship between soy production and recent deforestation patterns observed in the Amazon region.
