Greenpeace claims McDonald's is Destroying the Amazon Rainforest

Greenpeace has made claims that McDonald's is destroying the Amazon rainforest, by encouraging soya farmers to cut down the forest and plant massive soya monocultures. The soya that they grow is then shipped to Europe to feed the animals that are turned into McNuggets.

They claim they have evidence with satellite images, and a year long study.

"What we found was a global trade in soya from rainforest destruction in the Amazon to McDonald's fast food outlets and supermarkets across Europe.

"This crime stretches from the heart of the Amazon across the entire European food industry. Supermarkets and fast food giants, like McDonald's, must make sure their food is free from the links to the Amazon destruction, slavery and human rights abuses"
Greenpeace forests campaign co-ordinator, Gavin Edwards.


Most of the global trade in soya is controlled by a small number of massive traders: Cargill, Bunge and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). In Brazil, this cartel plays the role of bank to the farmers. Instead of providing loans they give farmers seed, fertiliser and herbicides in return for soya at harvest: Bunge alone provided the equivalent of nearly US$1 billion worth of seed, fertiliser and herbicides to Brazilian farmers in 2004.

This gives the companies indirect control over huge areas of land that used to be rainforest. Together, these three companies are responsible for around 60 percent of the total financing of soya production in Brazil.

The state of Mato Grosso is Brazil's worst in terms of deforestation and forest fires, accounting for nearly half of all the deforestation in the Amazon in 2003-04. In Mato Grosso, the governor, Blairo Maggi, is known locally as the 'Soya King'. His own massive soya company Grupo Andre Maggi controls much of the soya production in the state and since his election in 2002, forest destruction in Mato Grosso has increased by 30 percent. "

They later also claim that international banks are funding such operations. For more information on this matter please see: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/mcamazon-060406

Tags: rainforest destruction, McDonalds, brazil, amazon rainforest