6.1 Eliminating deforestation

Deforestation continues to be a major challenge for the feed industry and in turn for the animal husbandry industry, which supplies most of the meat eaten at dinner tables across the globe. Eliminating deforestation, either legal or illegal, as well as the forest fires that often indicate the former, are impacts that affect biodiversity loss and climate change on a global scale.

The problem also incorporates several competing issues and complex challenges, ranging from the risk of usurping a nation’s sovereign jurisdiction on legal and illegal deforestation, responding adequately to the demands of civil society (some of whom are competing in their proposed solutions), and the free market demands for action on climate change and biodiversity loss, including the ever-present risk of “going too far” and straying into anti-trust territory.

While measures may be well-intended and essential to halting climate change, there’s also the ethical debate of creating obstacles for landowners looking to make a living, and supporting a growing GDP to enter the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) club of countries in the industrialised market. The issue is further complicated by the partial mitigation that purchasing, land conversion-free, certified soy doesn’t necessarily cover the activities on non-certified farmers land, and therefore won’t resolve issues across the wider biome at risk.

After decades in this discussion, Nutreco saw promising possibilities in the work that was occurring in the Brazilian Cerrado biome with the Cerrado Working Group (or GTC in its native Portuguese acronym), a multi-stakeholder grassroots committee made up of the major soy traders and local NGOs. Preliminary agreements were reached to protect the entire Cerrado biome from further deforestation for soybean cultivation whilst recognising landowner rights to generate income from their land. Consensus was also achieved allowing landowners to complete the process of obtaining permits to legally deforest their land (and by doing so, ensure that all land title documentation was in order), but rather than utilise that permit, they would submit it unused in return for the payment for environmental services (PES) long-term rental agreement.

So promising was this concept that Nutreco agreed to increase our support for the Cerrado Manifesto Statement of Support (SoS) by joining its Steering Group. Today there are nearly 165 signatories. Nutreco was convinced that this PES system was a gateway future solution as it provided landowners with a route to their economic development but did not encroach on national sovereignty while protecting habitats. The concept deliberately steered clear of moratoriums, making it more equitable for all stakeholders. As a result, in the fourth-quarter of 2019, Nutreco committed funds, along with Tesco and Grieg Seafood, to the Cerrado Funding Coalition to support the success of PES.

However, in December 2019, negotiations in Brazil between the soy traders and NGOs suddenly broke down, immediately taking PES and other previous agreements off-the-table. We were caught in a situation that put us back at square one.

Today, we continue dialogue with our major soy suppliers in Brazil to look for viable solutions that could build on the good work done in the previous years.

As part of the SoS Steering Group, we’re also seeking to re-energise discussions on a suitable Cerrado biome PES payments scheme for soy in early 2021. We maintain that it’s essential to continue to support work on the three priorities: Respect the landowner’s rights; respect national sovereignty; and respect the free markets’ demands to stop legal and illegal deforestation in one of the world’s most valuable and biodiversity-rich biomes. The alignment of these priorities is still achievable and conversations are continuing.