THE SOY MODEL: IRRESPONSIBLE, UNSUSTAINABLE, OPPRESSIVE*

CALL TO SUPPORT THE COUNTERMOVEMENT TO THE SECOND 'ROUND TABLE ON RESPONSIBLE
SOY'



Referring to the Declaration issued by Paraguayan farmers' organisations and
NGO's followed by mobilisations and debates, we are calling for the support of
organisations world wide to oppose the 'Responsible Soy' initiative.

>From August 31 - 2nd September, the second 'Round Table on Responsible Soy'
will take place in Asunción, Paraguay. Initiated by WWF, the Round Table is
co-organised by Coop Switzerland, Unilever, ABN-AMRO, AAPRESID, Grupo Andre
Maggi, and Guyra Paraguay. In the ambiance of a luxury hotel, options will be
discussed to create an international niche market for "responsible soy"
(note: see www.responsiblesoy.org). The objective of this initiative is to
reduce the "considerable social and environmental costs" that soy production
and its expansion entails. "Responsible soy" would be soy produced according a
set of negotiated criteria. Buying this specific soy will allow the food and
feed industry to advertise their products as "responsible" or "green".

In Paraguay, indigenous, farmers, urban movements as well as civil society
organisations reject this Round Table as a greenwashing exercise for
agribusiness and industries that benefit from this exploitative and destructive
monoculture. The expansion of soy production in Paraguay goes hand in hand with
increased land conflicts and repression, expulsion of the rural population,
contamination of soil and water with agrochemicals and related health crises,
and loss of food sovereignty. More than 100 peasant leaders have been killed,
and 2000 peasants fighting for land are facing legal cases against them.
Against this background, the concept of 'responsible soy' is highly deceptive.

Most soy is being exported to Europe (and increasingly China), mainly as animal
feed for its factory farms. This contributes massively towards the ecological
debt that Europe owes to the South. Instead of growing sufficient animal feed
itself, Europe has become dependent on soy imports to sustain a huge
overproduction of meat and dairy products, that are in turn being exported
around the world. International trade agreements have further strengthened
Europe's addiction to soy.

'Responsible Soy' does not provide a solution to the many problems soy
monoculture creates. It does not question the agroexport model, but instead
legitimises the activities of multinational corporations that dominate the food
chain, from seed producers like Monsanto, DuPont, and Syngenta, to grain
traders
like Cargill, ADM and Bunge, and finally food processing companies and
supermarkets.


Therefore groups and movements around the world are called to:


Support the Declaration issued by Paraguayan organisations

Critically follow the 'responsible soy' process

Boycot the second 'Round Table on Responsible Soy' in Asunción, Paraguay,
August 31 - 2nd September 2006

More info on :
www.grr.org.ar/iguazu
www.aseed.net
www.baseis.org.py


______________________________

Declaration:

The Development Model for Soy in Paraguay-
Irresponsible, Unsustainable and Anti-Democratic.

The role of large scale soy production in the destruction of land, water,
communities and ecosystems in Paraguay.

Indigenous Peoples’ and peasant Farmers' organisations, community associations
and other civil society groups in Paraguay who are signatories to this
Declaration categorically reject the raw material export development model
which has been condemned worldwide because of the environmental devastation it
causes.
In particular, we reject large scale soy production which uses massive amounts
of agro-chemicals, pesticides and genetically modified organisms, plunders our
natural and cultural heritage, excludes and evicts communities from their land,
concentrates power and decision-making about our national economy into the
hands
of a few, and thus undermines the sovereignty of our nation and its peoples and
communities.

Large scale soy production is intrinsically unsustainable and is part of the
oppressive, elitist, irresponsible, self-serving and socially exclusive
agro-industrial model. The President of the Republic of Paraguay, despite the
fact he has done nothing to challenge this situation,recently acknowledged that
“Latin America does not need this kind of economic model..”

The expansion of monocultural “green deserts”, such as large scale soy
production, non-native grasses and exotic trees, promotes and increases a
mechanized agriculture without small farmers; without people. All monocultures
are damaging to the ecosystems they supplant; they cause poverty, unemployment
and the eviction and exodus of communities in rural areas. They destroy
biological and agricultural diversity, poison water sources and the soil and
undermine the food security and sovereignty of the people and their countries.


The so-called “responsible” soy production being promoted by the Round Table on
Responsible Soy is a fallacy; a smoke screen used to try to hide the alliance
of business interests between transnational corporations from a public which is
increasingly aware of national and regional economic alternatives based on
democracy, participation, inclusion and social, political, economic and
environmental sustainability.

Who will take responsibility for the environmental pollution caused by
approximately 20 million litres of chemicals dumped on Paraguay this year?, The
destruction of streams, rivers, springs and wetlands? The eviction of almost a
hundred thousand small farmers from their homes and fields? The assassination
of more than one hundred peasant leaders? The forced relocation and ethnocide
of Indigenous Peoples and communities? The charges pressed against more than
2,000 small farmers for their legitimate resistance to this predatory system?
Large scale soy monocultures are NOT possible without this litany of adverse
impacts.

The concept of “sustainability” applied to soy monocultures tricks us
into
believing a conservationist and conservative “greenwash” spun by some sectors
in Europe and Latin America in anticipation of the increase in the worldwide
demand for soy to provide fodder in Europe and China. (It is estimated that
there will be a 60% increase in soy production that will translate into 300
millions tonnes grown a year by 2020, 1.5 million square kilometres of
cultivated land devoted to soy - about half the area of the Plata River Basin,
and an additional 220,000 square kilometers of forests and savannah destroyed
to grow soy.)
The Round Table on Responsible soy does not question the agro-export model of
large scale production systems dependent on chemical pesticides, nor of the
role of transnational GMO seed and agro-chemical companies such as Monsanto,
Pioneer, Syngenta, Dupont, Cargill and Bunge. Neither is the role of
international financial institutions and development banks called into
question, even though it is they who promote and bankroll economic models based
on monocultures, agro-exports and unsustainability.
To ensure its own survival and proliferation, the agro-export model has
contributed to the criminalisation not only of social struggles, but of poverty
itself. The mega-soy model systematically violates labour, civil and
environmental legislation. It is in direct opposition to the basic principles
of human rights, especially economic, social, cultural and environmental
rights. It is incompatible with the rule of law.
For the good of all nations and peoples, we defend the rights of communities to
healthy and sovereign lives, with guaranteed recognition and protection of our
fundamental human rights, and the full exercise of sovereignty over our
territories, food, culture and economy.

We reject the second Round Table Meeting on “Responsible soy” being held in
Paraguay which we consider an affront to the misery caused to its people.

NOTES:

1. The establishment of a market of “obligations towards conservation”
is
based
on the so-called “Basel Principles” on responsible soy production, that permits
soy cultivation on lands deforested after 1994, if and when the deforestation
has been offset with 'pro-biodiversity compensation' (which is often in the
form of financial contributions to the same organizations that promote the
adoption of these principles). The social movements fear that, on the contrary,
these will result in a greater concentration of land tenure and will distract
attention from the other environmental and social problems created by the
expansion of large scale monocultures like soy.
2. More than 24,000,000 litres of toxic agro-chemicals are used in soy
cultivation in Paraguay each year. These chemicals pollute the water, air and
soil and destroy the biological diversity. The herbicides used in soy
production include those in the red category, that is to say that are
“extremely dangerous” or “very dangerous” according to the classification
contained in Resolution 295/03 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock.
These include Paraquat, which has no antidote if ingested, Gramoxone,
Metamidofos which reduces the number and health of sperm in exposed males, and
Endosulfan, a teratogenic (a substance that causes birth defects in the infants
of mothers who have been repeatedly exposed) according to the Environmental
Protection Agency of the United States –EPA.
3. With regard to GMO soy, it is worth noting that 'RoundupReady' soy is
used
with a potent herbicide and the necessary precautions are not taken.
Furthermore, while all the effects of genetic engineering seeds are yet not
known, GMO seeds do pose threats to germplasm and human health. Approximately
95% of soy production in Paraguay is genetically modified. However, because of
GMO contamination and illegal ownership it is not possible to guarantee non-GMO
soy in Paraguay.
4. The area of large scale grain and hay cultivation (not just in
Paraguay but
in all of the Southern Cone of South America) coincides almost entirely with
the Guaraní aquifer. This means the little forest cover that remains is rapidly
being destroyed, even in key zones like the recharge areas, resulting in the
pollution of the subterranean waters by the toxic agro-chemicals used to grow
soy.
5. We propose the creation of a new development model for the country,
that
promotes community sustainability and sovereignty, based on the specific
characteristics of each territory. Such a model would produce healthy and
competitive crops, while simultaneously promoting the decentralization of power
and democratic decision making about land use and production. Furthermore, it
would be based on equitatable land distribution and would halt social
exclusion, eviction and forced displacement by reviewing legal land tenure and
titles to ensure that they regulate and limit extensive large scale
agricultural production.
6. We demand recognition and protection of fundamental human rights, as
well as
the right to a diversity of modes of production and sustainable rural
livelihoods. Natural, ecological and organic production is possible and its
viability and its profit potential should not be discredited. The profits of
organic agriculture are obtainable for small farmers in contrast to
monocultures whose profits are concentrated in the hands of a few growers.
__________________________

Press Release
All monocultures are damaging to the ecosystems they supplant; they cause
poverty, unemployment and the eviction and exodus of communities in rural
areas. They destroy biological and agricultural diversity, poison water sources
and the soil and undermine the food security and sovereignty of the people and
their countries.



Declaration "The Irresponsible, Unsustainable and Antidemocratic Development
Model in present day Paraguay " August 2006, Asuncion, Paraguay

"The Irresponsible, Unsustainable and Antidemocratic Development Model in
present day Paraguay " is the title of the Declaration launched by Paraguayan
and international organisations with various backgrounds, to express their
opposition to large scale soy production, considering its close connection to
an agroindustrial model which is antidemocratic, excluding, irresponsible and
which concentrates all the benefits in the hands of a few.

The document is signed by MCNOC (National Coordination of Peasant
Organisations), FNC (National Peasant Federation), ONAC (National Peasant
Organisation), CNOCIP (National Center of Indigenous and Popular Peasant
Organisations), CONAMURI (National Coordination of Rural and Indigenous Women),
the organisations BASE IS, SOBREVIVENCIA - Friends of the Earth Paraguay, (all
of which are Paraguayan organisations); and the Global Forest Coalition and
ASEED Europe,Social Equity in Environmental Decisions (UK) which continues to
be an open list to be signed by others.
This is an absolute rejection by these organisations of the raw material export
model of soy monocultures, based on the use of massive amounts of pescticides
and toxic chemicals and the dangerous introduction of genetically modified
organisms. They also reject the hosting of the Second Round Table on
`Responsible' Soy,in Asunción, Paraguay, an initiative stimulated by
multinational corporations and conservationist foundations.

“Who will take responsibility for the environmental pollution caused by
approximately 20 million liters of chemicals dumped on Paraguay this year?, The
destruction of streams, rivers, springs and wetlands? The eviction of almost a
hundred thousand small farmers from their homes and fields?The assassination of
more than one hundred peasant leaders? The forced relocation and ethnocide of
Indigenous Peoples and communities, the charges pressed against more than 2,000
small farmers for their legitimate resistance to this predatory system?”,
question the signing organisations, to come to the conclusion that “Large scale
soy monocultures are NOT possible without this litany of adverse impacts”.



For more information please contact:



[Spanish]

Julia Franco - CONAMURI, National Coordination of Rural and Indigenous Women

Tel. (595 21) 490 203

Mob. (595 971) 322 100

 conamuri@rieder.net.py



Beatriz Silvero - SOBREVIVENCIA, Friends of the Earth Paraguay

Tel. (595 21) 480 182

Mob. (595 981) 921 850

 ecolegal@sobrevivencia.org.py

Mirna Mochet - ONAC, National Peasant Organisation

Mob. (595 981) 881 442

 onac@telesurf.com.py



Marcial Gómez - FNC, National Peasant Federation

Tel. (595 21) 512 384

Mob. (595 971) 984 413

 fncparaguay@gmail.com



Tomás Palau - BASE IS, Social Investigations

Tel. (595 21) 451 217

 tpalau@baseis.org.py

[English-Dutch]

An Maeyens - A SEED Europa, Action for Solidarity, Environment, Equality and
Diversity

Tel. (595 21) 451 217

Mob. (595 981) 893 511

 an@aseed.net



[Spanish-English]

Miguel Lovera - GFC, Global Forest Coalition

Cel. (595 971) 201 957

 lovera2@conexion.com.py