ETHANOL HAVE AN UNEXPECTED BAD EFFECT ON AMAZON

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SMITHSONIAN TROPICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE - Amazon deforestation and fires
are being aggravated by US farm subsidies, claims STRI's staff scientist
William Laurance. According to Laurance, whose findings are reported
this week in Science, a recent spike in Amazonian fires is being
promoted by massive US subsidies that promote American corn production
for ethanol. . .

"American taxpayers are spending $11 billion a year to subsidize corn
producers - and this is having some surprising global consequences,"
said Laurance. The US is the world's leading producer of soy, but many
American soy farmers are shifting to corn to qualify for the government
subsidies. Since 2006, US corn production rose 19% while soy farming
fell by 15%.

The drop-off in US soy has helped to drive a major increase in global
soy prices, which have nearly doubled in the last 14 months. In Brazil,
the world's second-largest soy producer, high soy prices are having a
serious impact on the Amazon rainforest and tropical savannas.

"Amazon fires and forest destruction have spiked over the last several
months, especially in the main soy-producing states in Brazil," said
Laurance. "Just about everyone there attributes this to rising soy and
beef prices."

High soy prices affect the Amazon in several ways. Some forests are
cleared for soy farms. Farmers also buy and convert many cattle ranches
into soy farms, effectively pushing the ranchers further into the
Amazonian frontier. Finally, wealthy soy farmers are lobbying for major
new Amazon highways to transport their soybeans to market, and this is
increasing access to forests for loggers and land speculators.

http://stri.org/english/about_stri/headline_news/news/article.php?id=736

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