Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of UK companies importing soya from the Cerrado region in Brazil of local legislation that permits deforestation of up to 80 per cent on (a) biodiversity, (b) South American river systems and (c) the human rights of indigenous communities.

The UK Government recognises the current challenge of deforestation in the Cerrado for the production of agricultural products such as soya. The Cerrado is a critical biome and home to 5% of the planet’s animal and plant species and 30% of Brazil’s biodiversity. The effect of deforestation on biodiversity, South American river systems, and the human rights of indigenous communities in the Cerrado is significant.

We are committed to tackling deforestation and its social and environmental consequences across our global supply chains, including in the Cerrado. 27% of the soya imported into the UK is sourced in Brazil. Much of this is produced in the Amazon Soy Moratorium region, which is considered to have some of the strictest forest protections in the world. The Government has not made an explicit assessment of UK soy imports from the Cerrado on biodiversity, rivers, and indigenous people’s rights, but continues to work closely with the UK Roundtable on Sustainable Soya, which it convened in 2018, to ensure the legality and sustainability of imported soya. The problem of deforestation in areas such as the Cerrado can only be comprehensively addressed through international action. That is why, as co-Presidents of COP26, we are working to forge a new alliance between producer and consumer governments to ensure global supply chains are sustainable.