• Pendrill et al., 2019
• See also https://ourworldindata.org/what-are-drivers-deforestation
• Ritchie, 2021

Brazil and Indonesia accounting for 52% of deforestation in 2019. The expansion of pasture for beef production, croplands for soy and palm oil, and increasingly conversion of primary forest to tree plantations for paper and pulp have been the key drivers of this.

Deforestation may account for more Carbon emissions than

Beef

The expansion of pasture land to raise cattle was responsible for 41% of tropical deforestation. That’s 2.1 million hectares every year – about half the size of the Netherlands. Most of this converted land came from Brazil; its expansion of beef production accounts for one-quarter (24%) of tropical deforestation. This also means that most (72%) deforestation in Brazil is driven by cattle ranching.^[1]

Cattle in other parts of Latin America – such as Argentina and Paraguay – also accounted for a large amount of deforestation – 11% of the total.

Numerous studies^{[2] [3] [4]} show that the key driver of deforestation of the Amazon is pasture for cattle not soy planting, especially as Brazil has had a moratorium banning soy from being sold if it was grown on former amazon rainforest.

Animal feed: mainly soy

• Soy
  Global soy production has increased more than 10-fold over the past 50 years. This has been driven by increased demand for meat – three-quarters of global soy is fed to livestock – and to a lesser extent, soybean oil and biofuels. The United States and Brazil each account for more than one-third of global production.

References