Pressure from private companies and governments in importing countries is transforming where and how soy is produced in South America, helping to halt soy-related destruction of natural habitats.
Since the ASM was put in place, companies and governments in importing countries have stepped up their commitments to eliminate deforestation in their supply chains. Numerous multi-stakeholder forums and initiatives have emerged, enabling private sector actors, governments, NGOs, and civil society to collaborate to transform soy production in South America. The Consumer Goods Forum Deforestation Resolution (CGF), for example, brings together around 400 retailers, manufacturers, and other stakeholders from 70 countries, and the Roundtable on Responsible Soy (RTRS) brings together over 200 members from industry, producers, retailers, and civil society. Forum members have developed innovative initiatives, including tools and guidelines to help actors improve supply chain transparency and monitor links to threatened areas in South America. They have also devised schemes to help buyers certify the environmental, social and economic conditions in which soy is produced (e.g. RTRS and ProTerra).
These initiatives have coalesced actors around calls to action to halt deforestation. In 2014, world leaders endorsed the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF) to halve natural forest loss by 2020, and end it by 2030, including the elimination of deforestation from soy supply chains. In 2015 the governments of Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, Italy and France signed the Amsterdam Declaration, a commitment to achieve fully sustainable and deforestation-free supply chains in Europe by 2020. In May 2020, over 40 European companies, including leading British supermarkets Sainsbury's, Tesco, Morrisons and Marks & Spencer, signed an open letter threatening to boycott products linked to Amazon deforestation if a proposed bill to allow settlers who illegally invaded public land between 2011-2018 to establish legal ownership, is passed by the Brazilian Congress.4
Meanwhile, importing country governments in Europe have started to legislate for mandatory due diligence by companies sourcing deforestation-linked commodities. The French Corporate Duty of Vigilance Law requires companies to implement a plan to avoid trading in goods linked to environmental or social harm.5 The law applies to all operations around the world of large French companies and subsidiaries. This means that the two largest supermarket chains in Brazil, which are French owned, must comply or face substantial fines. In 2018, the French Government adopted a National Strategy against Imported Deforestation by 2030, which includes tools for improved traceability, a revised public purchasing policy, and using development aid to leverage sustainable production in aid-receiving countries.6 The EU and other European governments are considering similar initiatives. In 2019, the UK government convened an independent taskforce to provide recommendations on avoiding deforestation in the UK’s commodity supply chains. The taskforce has recommended mandatory due diligence as the legal standard of care.
Innovative tools have been developed to aid the monitoring, and enhance the effectiveness, of supply chain agreements. Trase uses publicly available data to map the links between consumer countries and conditions in the place of production, allowing companies and governments to identify environmental and social risks in their supply chains. Mapbiomas generates sophisticated data on annual changes in land use and cover in Brazilian biomes. Global Forest Watch Pro uses geospatial data to monitor conditions and track changes at farms, supply sheds or jurisdictions and demonstrate compliance with relevant commitments and policies.