Greenpeace activists, dressed as 'jaguars', used chains to immobilise bulldozers that have been destroying Yungas forest in north west Argentina. Argentina's forests are being cut down to grow Monsanto?s genetically engineered soya for export as animal feed to Europe and China.
Nine Greenpeace activists, including five 'jaguars', located
bulldozers in Salta, on the border of the Great Chaco and Yungas
forests. They climbed onto the machines and used chains to lock
them.
"We're here to stop these jaguar forests being destroyed and the
land turned into a genetically engineered soya desert," said
Emiliano Ezcurra, Biodiversity Campaign Coordinator, Greenpeace
Argentina, speaking from the Yungas forest. "Every hour, a forest
area the size of twenty football fields is cleared in Argentina.
Important ecosystems are destroyed, people lose their homes and
livelihoods and wildlife is endangered," he added. (2)
Together, the Yungas and Great Chaco form the second largest
forests in the Americas, after the Amazon. They are rich in
biodiversity and home to rare species, such as jaguars, which are
on the edge of extinction in the region. (3)
Argentina is the world's third largest soya producer and it's
biggest soya exporter. Increasing global demand for soya has led to
an increased demand for agricultural land in Argentina, at the cost
of the last third of the country's native forests. For every
additional three tonnes of soya produced in Argentina, a hectare of
forest is lost. Soya expansion is also leading to deforestation in
Paraguay, Bolivia and southern Brazil.
In Argentina, this rapid expansion in soya production has
escalated since 1996, when Monsanto introduced genetically
engineered soya beans. This is leading to social as well as
environmental problems. The Yungas and Great Chaco forests are home
to millions of people, including indigenous communities, who depend
on them for their livelihoods. Soya 'barons' are paying local
police to forcibly evict people who live in these forests from
their land, often at gunpoint (4).
Ramón Ferriera, who lives in the Great Chaco forest, said: "They
force us to leave our land, often with guns. Then they come with
these powerful machines, knock down all the trees, burn them and
plant soya. We see no economic benefit from such great destruction
and we lose all we have."
Ezcurra concluded: "People go hungry while their land is used to
grow soya to feed cows, pigs and chicken in Europe and Asia. This
environmental and social abuse is totally unacceptable. The
Argentinean Government must stop the forest destruction and give
people who live in the forest the legal right to their land."
Greenpeace will stay in the area for several days. It will
continue to peacefully confront forest destruction, visit
threatened communities and document the areas that are under
threat.
Notes: Greenpeace is inviting people around the world to help save Argentina's forests by contacting their Argentinean Embassies, to demand that the Argentinean President, Dr. Néstor Kirchner, stops the forest destruction. See www.greenpeace.orgFor briefings on the forests, their wildlife and the growth of genetically engineered soya industry in Argentina see http://www.greenpeace.org/international_en/press(1) Argentina is planning to grow 14 million hectares of soya this year. 98% of it is genetically engineered and over 90% - almost 20 million tonnes - is exported as animal feed to Europe and Asia. Europe accounts for 35% of Argentina's soya exports and China for 23%. See Argentinean Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing and Food http://www.sagpya.mecon.gov.ar(2) Forest Map of Salta Province, updated 2002. Management Unit of the Forest Assessment System. Secretary for the Environment and Sustainable Development, page 17.(3) The Great Chaco American forest covers a million square kilometres, across Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil. The Yungas forest, also known as the 'Clouded' or 'Mountain' rainforest, is located in Argentina alone and covers about seventy thousand square kilometres. Both forests are home to jaguars.(4) Reported by MOCASE (Peasant Movement of Santiago del Estero Province, July 2003). Indigenous people and 'campesinos' have never been given title deeds to their land by the authorities, despite the fact that they have been living and working in these forests for decades. All the land is State owned. Local authorities often sell it to private owners. Since the indigenous people have no title deeds, they have no legal way to defend their land. Many move to the cities looking for work and end up in living in poverty in the growing slums.