Uncovering the Deforestation and Climate Risks of Chinese and EU Soy and Beef Imports from South America

by André Vasconcelos (Global Canopy and Trase/Wilson Center) To examine the role of the international community in shaping Latin America’s environmental agenda, the Wilson Center’s Latin American Program and its Brazil Institute, the Environmental Change and Security Program, China Environment Forum, and Global Europe Program launched a collaborative research project in 2020, Latin America’s Environmental Policies in Global Perspective.

The latest paper in this series explores the role of agricultural commodities in South America and their influence on accelerating deforestation. The author is André Vasconcelos, a senior associate at Global Canopy and Trase, an organization tracking issues of supply chain sustainability. Vasconcelos examines the environmental impacts of soy and beef production in Uncovering the Deforestation and Climate Risks of Chinese and EU Soy and Beef Imports. He argues that current efforts to address deforestation are focused largely on the Amazon region while ignoring other important, highly diverse biomes. He argues that shifting targets to combat deforestation to “specific production regions" offers a "strategic opportunity" for Chinese and European buyers to address the environmental impacts of large-scale beef and soy production. READ MORE