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Questions to the Project Group ‘Sustainabable Production of biomass
’ [from, when?]

1. The first part of the assignment of the project group was to “organise a stable structure of consultation and cooperation with stakeholders concerned..”. However, no organisations from the producer countries participated either in the project group, or are listed in the list of stakeholders. Also, the report was not translated in any of the languages of the producer countries, like Spanish. Why were organisations from procuder countries not considered as stakeholders? I notice that the follow up activities do include ‘elaboration of a protocol for the required dialogue with local/national stakeholders with respect to the reporting on sustainability indicators’. Why should they only be consulted on the reporting, and not on the design (or feasibility) of the indicators?

How producing RR soya destroys the food security and sovereignty of Argentina
A report by Lilian Joensen, Stella Semino (Grupo de Reflexión Rural, Argentina) and Helena Paul (EcoNexus, UK) for the Gaia Foundation

The report 'Paraguay Sojero' exposes the reality of the agroexport model as applied in countries like Paraguay, for its rural population. It provides detailed examples of how people's lives and environments are destroyed by the advancement of 'green deserts', in this case soy plantations. It also shows how these people are resisting and fighting for another way of life.
This report is one of the few materials that exist in English about Paraguay even though it is the 4th largest soy exporter worldwide.

'Paraguay Sojero' is published by Grupo de Reflexion Rural (Argentina) and was presented at the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Biodiversity Convention in Curitiba (Brazil), March 2006.

[Download Paraguay Sojero ]

pdf paraguay sojero

Looking back on the first Round Table conference, March 2005, Foz do Iguazú, Brazil
Written by Els Wijnstra and Javiera Rulli (Grupo de Reflexión Rural) and Zulema Lucero
The first meeting of the Business Round Table on "Sustainable Soy" took place on the 17th and 18th March of 2005 in a 5 star hotel in Foz do Iguazú, the heart of the MERCOSUR of soy. During these two days around 200 people debated about soy production. Among the participants were representatives of transnationals involved in soy production, manufacture and trade like Unilever, Monsanto, Bunge, Carrefour; conservationist NGO's such as Conservation International, IUCN and The Nature Conservancy. Government representatives of producer countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, as well as of the importer countries like Holland were also present. The debate focused on the expansion of production to satisfy world demand, its consequences and the conservation of high biodiversity areas.