Feature story - August 29, 2005
In Argentina precious forest is being bulldozed at a rate of a soccer pitch area every three minutes - all for soya crops to feed pigs and chickens in Europe and China. We are out to stop this destruction with the Greenpeace Jaguar team.
Greenpeace "jaguars" prowl the forests of Argentina to stop destruction and the expansion of genetically engineered soya.
Across South America the bulldozers of industrial agriculture,
draggingmammoth chains, are destroying huge swathes of diverse
ancient forests.Indigenous peoples, and rare species like jaguars,
are being swept asideto make space for huge, chemical intensive
soya monocultures, oftenplanted with genetically engineered
soya.
Raising demand for soya for animal feed is fuelling the
destructionthat is encouraged by governments in Argentina, Brazil
and Paraguay, inpartnership with huge agricultural corporations
like Monsanto.
Left unopposed, this means that many huge forests will disappear
in the next few years.We are taking action to stop this destruction
and make a stand for theindigenous people and rare species of the
forest. Last years theGreenpeace jaguars first appeared on the
scene to block the bulldozersand rally thousands of people to
pressure the Argentinian government tohalt the destruction. Because
the government failed to act against thedestruction the jaguar team
are back this year, now with a helicopterto spot the bulldozers in
the difficult terrain.
"Companies are failing to act responsibly, and the
ArgentinianGovernment stands by while rampant deforestation
continues," saidEmiliano Ezcurra, Greenpeace Argentina forests
campaigner. "We're hereto place ourselves between bulldozers and
trees to stop the destructionof these last remaining ancient
forests".
Road to ruin
The social consequences are just as devastating; government
supportedGE Soya landlords forcibly evict small farmers and
indigenouscommunities from their land. All the trees knocked down
by bulldozersare discarded onto huge piles, often kilometres long,
and set alight.The cleared land can only support the GE soya
monoculture for a fewyears before the soil nutrients disappear. The
options then are to usemore chemical fertilizers or just leave the
land to become a desert andmove on to clear more forest. This cycle
contributes to climate change,biodiversity loss and human rights
violations.
The money earned by these countries from soya exports won't last
forlong. But the priceless forest ecosystem and the unique
indigenouspeople will be gone forever.
Become a cyberactivist
Become a cyberactivist and help defend the world's forests.
Give now
Help keep the Greenpeace Jaguars on patrol to stop forest destruction.