The Yungas and Great Chaco American forests

Rich in biodiversity and home to rare species such as jaguars, which are on the brink of extinction in the region, these forests are being destroyed at one of the fastest rates in the world.

The rate of this destruction has accelerated since 1996 when Monsanto introduced genetically engineered soya beans into Argentina. Since then, the country has extended its agricultural frontiers to grow genetically engineered soya for export as animal feed particularly to the European Union and China, at the expense of its threatened forests, wildlife and the home and livelihoods of many forest dwelling people, including indigenous people.

Soya cultivation has now moved beyond Argentina's traditional farming area, the Pampas, to areas of land not previously used for farming. Many of these areas are environmentally fragile and forested. Since 2000 over one million hectares of Argentina's forests have been destroyed to grow soya and the figure is rising. Argentina is now the world's third largest soya producer and its biggest soya exporter. Forests are also being converted for soya production in Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil.

The increase in soya cultivation has gone hand in hand with social and environmental problems. Soya 'barons' are paying local police to forcibly evict people, including indigenous communities, who live in these forests from their land, often at gunpoint.

To raise the profile of this issue, in July Greenpeace activists dressed as jaguars on motorbikes, immobilised bulldozers to prevent them destroying forests in north west Argentina, which are being cut down to grow Monsanto's genetically engineered soya, used to feed cows, pigs and chickens in Europe and China. Greenpeace is campaigning for a two-year moratorium on forest conversion in Argentina while the problems caused by land conversion are addressed:

1. Land Planning: A New Land Planning Programme must be established so that Argentina's forests can be protected and areas set aside only for sustainable use by local people.
2. Land Tenure Regulation: All indigenous people and 'campesinos' must be given the right to legally own sufficient land to enable them to work and feed both themselves and their families.