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Amazon soy moratorium credited for reducing deforestation

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Traders do not buy from farms deforested since 2008

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Change would allow buying soy from parts of such farms

SAO PAULO, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Multinational grain traders

operating in Brazil will vote next week on changes that could

weaken an agreement to not buy soybeans from deforested areas of

the Amazon rainforest, The Guardian newspaper reported late on

Tuesday.

Soy traders including ADM, Cargill, Cofco and Bunge signed

up for the "Amazon soy moratorium" in the mid-2000s, pledging to

stop buying soy from farms in the Brazilian rainforest that were

deforested from 2008 onward.

Scientists and conservationists have praised the voluntary

moratorium for slowing the rate of deforestation in the Amazon,

the world's largest rainforest and a bulwark against climate

change because its trees absorb vast amounts of climate-warming

greenhouse gas.

The moratorium bars soy purchases from a whole farm if

it includes recently deforested areas. But traders are looking

at distinguishing between individual soy fields, letting growers

export from one part of a farm while planting soy on newly

deforested areas nearby, The Guardian reported, without citing

the source of the information.

Abiove, which represents those trading firms and all major

soy purchasers in Brazil, said it was holding discussions on the

moratorium, but did not confirm details of any vote or proposal.

Abiove members ADM, Cargill, Cofco and Bunge referred

questions to Abiove. Louis Dreyfus did not have an immediate

comment.

Under Brazil's forestry code, landowners in the Amazon

can legally clear up to 20% of their property. However, a surge

in deforestation around the turn of the century sparked calls

for a more restrictive stance from the private sector,

effectively blocking exports of soy from newly cleared farms in

the forest.

Brazil is the world's largest producer and exporter of soy.

Environmentalists argue weakening the moratorium could open up a

huge amount of the Amazon region to soy planting.

"It is very much an enormous amount of land that was

deforested after 2008 in the Amazon," said Jean-François

Timmers, an anti-deforestation campaigner with the World Wide

Fund for Nature. "We're talking about millions of hectares."

In its statement to Reuters, Abiove noted that Brazilian

state lawmakers are pushing legislation "that significantly harm

the signatories of the Soy Moratorium."

The state of Mato Grosso passed a law stripping tax breaks

from firms that adhere to the moratorium.

Abiove said it defends the soy moratorium while "striving to

balance the demands of both farmers and consumers, including

updates to the current model to ensure its effectiveness."