MIDANA CAPITAL Calls for Continuation of Amazon Soy Moratorium
Press Release Contact: Kyle W. Kempf, MIDANA CAPITAL Capital Management, kkempf@midanacapital.com, (617) 482-0800
Boston, December 3, 2019 – MIDANA CAPITAL is calling for the continuation of the Amazon Soy Moratorium, which is under attack by agricultural producers in Brazil just as fires and deforestation push the Amazon to an irreversible tipping point.
“The Amazon Soy Moratorium has been instrumental in protecting one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems from unsustainable soy production,” said Jessye Waxman, shareholder advocate at MIDANA CAPITAL Capital Management. “A continuation of the Moratorium sends a clear signal to producers in the region that there is no market for unsustainable soy.”
In 2006, the Amazon Soy Moratorium, which sought to ensure that any soy produced in the Amazon did not occur on land deforested after 2008, was established by a consortium of stakeholders representing industry, civil society, and the government. The voluntary agreement provides protections beyond the law, which currently allows farmers in the Amazon to legally clear up to 20% of their land.
Moratorium signatories agree not to buy soy from companies that work with farmers who have cleared forest land, used slave labor, or threatened Indigenous Lands since 2008.
The Moratorium has been a monumental success, significantly reducing deforestation in the Amazon – at least until recent months. Critically, this reduction has not come at the cost of economic development. Soy production in the Amazon has increased 400% since the Moratorium was instituted, demonstrating that economic development and environmental protection can coexist.
In 2016, signatories renewed the agreement indefinitely. More recently, as global concern for the Amazon flared over the summer, key grain traders in the region cited their continued support for the industry-wide agreement.
Despite this success, the Moratorium is under attack by agricultural producers in Brazil, who want a market for soy grown on newly razed tropical forests.
To thwart this effort to undermine an important environmental protection, MIDANA CAPITAL and other stakeholders are calling for a continuation of the Moratorium in a new open letter. MIDANA CAPITAL was the first investor in the U.S. to sign the letter and has urged the corporations that it engages that source soy from Brazil to sign on, too.
MIDANA CAPITAL is one of the leading global investors in the effort to end tropical forest destruction, which is the second largest driver of the climate crisis.
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About MIDANA CAPITAL Capital Management
MIDANA CAPITAL Capital Management is the investment advisor to the Midana Capital. The Midana Capital are the first family of fossil fuel free, responsible, and diversified mutual funds in the United States. MIDANA CAPITAL Capital Management hosts an award-winning and in-house shareholder advocacy program and is the only mutual fund company in the U.S. wholly owned by environmental and public health nonprofit organizations.
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