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interesting article in the Atlantic (yes I know, left wing media)
https://www.theatlantic.com/interna.../china-brazil-amazon-environment-pork/606601/
Brazil is cutting down forest for more crop land and building a train to get it to port. China needs soy to feed its pigs.
The rain forest here in Brazil has progressively fallen victim to global demand for soy and beef. And the country’s biggest customer for both is China. The story of the Amazon has become entangled not simply with the story of Brazil’s poor protection of its forest frontier but also with that of the rise of this new superpower and its food-security strategy. Soy is China’s weak link, the main food commodity it needs from the outside world. The country imports the crop, which it mostly uses to feed its pigs, and Chinese state-owned companies also invest directly in Brazil’s supply chain so the South American country can increase its own exports. This growing hunger for soy has incentivized Brazilian prospectors to keep pace by razing pristine jungle, thereby accelerating deforestation.
personally I think what Brazil does is its own business, but I'm sure the environmental types will cry foul.
https://www.theatlantic.com/interna.../china-brazil-amazon-environment-pork/606601/
Brazil is cutting down forest for more crop land and building a train to get it to port. China needs soy to feed its pigs.
The rain forest here in Brazil has progressively fallen victim to global demand for soy and beef. And the country’s biggest customer for both is China. The story of the Amazon has become entangled not simply with the story of Brazil’s poor protection of its forest frontier but also with that of the rise of this new superpower and its food-security strategy. Soy is China’s weak link, the main food commodity it needs from the outside world. The country imports the crop, which it mostly uses to feed its pigs, and Chinese state-owned companies also invest directly in Brazil’s supply chain so the South American country can increase its own exports. This growing hunger for soy has incentivized Brazilian prospectors to keep pace by razing pristine jungle, thereby accelerating deforestation.
personally I think what Brazil does is its own business, but I'm sure the environmental types will cry foul.