'RESPONSIBLE' SOY STIRS CONTROVERSY

Stakeholders in the soy business seeking to develop sustainability criteria for their industry have met with tough resistance from civil society groups. Environmentalists choosing to sidestep the multi-stakeholder initiative have called it a 'greenwash,' saying that any expansion of soy production would have dire environmental and social consequences and that the only solution is to cut consumption in the North.

Around 200 representatives from the soy industry -- including growers, fodder mills, meat producers, retailers, and financiers -- together with environmental and social non-governmental organisations from around the world gathered for the third Global Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) from 23-24 April in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Under the heading of "Responsive Soy: Food, Feed, and Fuel for a Future World", the meeting discussed criteria for economically viable, socially equitable and environmentally sustainable production, processing and trading of soy. At the close of the meeting the Executive Board agreed on draft principles and criteria for responsible soy production and trade, and on a verification mechanism to be able to ensure compliance. The final versions of these documents are expected to be ratified in May 2009.

Before the meeting some civil society groups called on those involved in the RTRS to withdraw. Participating organisations such as WWF are encouraging all parties to cooperate in the round table discussions. A week before the meeting, the Global Forest Coalition -- a coalition of non-governmental and indigenous peoples organisations -- called upon other civil society groups involved in the process to withdraw. According to Miguel Lovera, chairperson of the Global Forest Coalition, "The support of civil society organisations to this Round Table is legitimising a corporate-dominated process that attempts to give a green veneer to further soy expansion in South America and other regions instead of promoting more sustainable consumption patterns that would take away the need for further expansion."

What's in the criteria?

As a result of increasing demand for feedstock to meet the world's growing demand for meat and poultry and bioenergy to replace fossil fuels, soy production is expanding. The RTRS is seeking to ensure that the expansion happens in a sustainable fashion, and that its members adhere to principles and criteria currently under development to ensure this.

The principles and criteria are being developed by a smaller group of soy stakeholders, and are open to comments during public consultation periods. They relate to responsible business practices, responsible labour conditions, respect for land rights, small scale and traditional land use, responsible community relations, environmental sustainability, responsible water management, responsible soil management, protection of biodiversity, crop protection and responsible use of chemicals, and responsible establishment of infrastructure and new areas of cultivation.

The latest document on criteria and principles, dated 27 March 2008 and circulated during the round table, contains different wording options where members of the drafting group could not agree and are looking for further input. According to the document, soy business companies have to comply with applicable legal requirements and openness and transparency. It also says that there is a need to ensure that RTRS does not become a technical barrier to trade.

The principles on responsible labour conditions include the recognition and respect for labour rights and individual human rights (and propose different laws that companies would have to comply with), adequate handling of health and safety issues, recognition of and respect for workers' freedom of association, and provision of fair salaries.

With regard to responsible community relations, criteria relate to the contribution to sustainable development of local communities, constructive dialogue and addressing of grievances, and compensation for loss or damage. On environmental responsibility, the soy industry has to identify and document, through participatory and transparent processes, any significant negative and positive environmental impacts caused by ongoing operations, and take demonstrable measures to monitor, prevent or minimise and mitigate negative impacts. The industry also has to minimise pollution and waste and greenhouse gas emissions, maintain or improve the quality and availability of surface and ground water, and maximise water use efficiency.

The document is open to the public for comment until 30 May this year. The next Round Table on Responsible Soy will be held in May 2009, and the principles and criteria are expected to be adopted at this meeting.

Civil society says soy expansion is 'irresponsible'

Many civil society groups are not convinced by the RTRS process, however. Friends of the Earth released a report on the eve of the round table entitled "Sustainability as a Smokescreen: The Inadequacy of Certifying Fuels and Feeds." The report states that attempts to use certification schemes to reduce the widespread environmental and social problems caused by growing crops for fuels and animal feeds are bound to fail. "The expansion of massive monocultures leads to the destruction of our forests, savannahs and wildlife, raises land and food prices and directly impacts on rural communities who are forced off their land to make way for the plantations. Unfortunately certifying large monocultures as sustainable would mislead international consumers and not improve production methods. Increasing production for exports, and increasing consumption in the North, are destructive trends that must be reversed," said Lucia Ortiz of Friends of the Earth Brazil.

Another report, entitled "The Round Table on Irresponsible Soy: Certifying Soy Expansion, GM Soy and Agrofuels" was released earlier in April several civil society groups, including Corporate Europe Observatory and Rain Forest Action Network. They claimed that the only role of the RTRS is to "greenwash," providing the soy industry with a framework within which they can talk about corporate social responsibility (CSR) without actually providing any solutions for the real victims of soy production and expansion.

Background: The challenges of rapid soy growth

The soy sector is one of the fastest growing industries in South America. The cultivated area for soybean has more than doubled over the past ten years in the main soy producing countries, namely, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay, which represent some 60 percent of total world production). This trend is expected to continue in the future, with demand for soy increasing to 300 million tons by 2020. The current food crises and the increased demand for biofuels has further focused attention on all commodities and their market linkages (see Bridges Weekly, 23 April 2008, http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/08-04-23/story1.htm).

While soy production is one of the largest sources of income, generating development and providing employment in several countries in the region, extensive cultivation and the expansion of agricultural frontiers also entail high social and environmental costs, including deforestation, water pollution and soil erosion. Rapid growth of soy production also signifies a threat to the rich biological diversity in the region. Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia have all suffered conversion of forests and other ecosystems to land under cultivation.

Increasing soy production could lead to the loss of an additional 16 million hectares of savannahs and sex million hectares of tropical forests in these countries. Since 2003, 70,000 km2 of tropical forest have been destroyed in this region. When soy cultivation results in the conversion of natural forest, it also contributes to climate change. In several instances, soy expansion has been the cause of social conflicts between local communities and soy producers. The creation of new soy fields often leads to land rights violations against families, small farmers and indigenous population groups, thereby increasing the number of landless people.

Additional resources

The meeting report will be available shortly on the Round Table on Responsible Soy Association website at http://www.responsiblesoy.org

"Sustainability as a Smokescreen: The Inadequacy of Certifying Fuels and Feeds," by Friends of the Earth Europe, is available at http://www.foeeurope.org/agrofuels/sustainabilitysmokescreen.html

"The Round Table on Ir-Responsible Soy: Certifying Soy Expansion, GM Soy and Agrofuels" by ASEED Europe, Base Investigaciones Sociales, Corporate Europe Observatory, Grupo de Reflexión Rural, and Rain Forest Action Network, is available at http://www.corporateeurope.org/docs/soygreenwash.pdf

ICTSD reporting; "The Withdraw NGO Support to Responsible Soy Roundtable", SCOOP, 18 April 2008; "Green Schemes for Biofuel Crops set to Fail", FRIENDS OF THE EARTH INTERNATIONAL, 22 April 2008; "Global Conference on Responsible Soy Convenes Industry Players and NGOs", WWF, 14 April 2008.