WWF is currently one of the targets of a letter writing campaign by NGOs, including Friends of the Earth, Fern, and ASEED, criticizing its participation in the RTRS, which they accuse of encouraging soy monoculture production and promoting Genetically Modified Soy (GM) soy as being “responsible”.
In a letter to RTRS members dated April 2009, various organizations have called for members to abandon the RTRS.
Soy cultivation and its impacts
Soy is a crop that provides both edible oil and livestock protein feed (soy meal).
The global demand for soy is rising rapidly, driven by the growing need for livestock feed to satisfy the world’s increased appetite for meat, chicken and dairy products.
Most of the recent industry growth has taken place in the subtropical and tropical regions of Latin America.
Recently, additional demand has originated from the bioenergy sector, which has identified soy as a potential alternative to replace fossil fuels for transport and energy, and by shortages of other edible oils used for food and fuel (such as rapeseed oil).
Soy expansion in Latin America has more than doubled (from 18 million hectares in 1995 to 40 million hectares in 2005). Having expanded globally on average 4.3% yearly from 1996 to 2006, the rapid expansion of intensive (monoculture) soy production has had serious environmental impacts from habitat conversion (loss of forests and savannahs) and soil degradation, to excessive water and pesticide use.
Social impacts include conflicts over land-rights and inequitable labour conditions.
Because of its high degree of mechanization, large-scale soy farming is not very labour-intensive, often resulting in only seasonal, low-paying jobs for the local population.
About the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS)
RTRS is a multi-stakeholder initiative established in 2005, with the following objectives:
- Facilitate a global dialogue on soy that is economically viable, socially equitable and environmentally sound.
- Reach consensus among key stakeholders and players linked to the soy industry.
- Act as Forum to develop and promote a standard of sustainability for the production, processing, trading and use of soy.
- Act as an internationally recognized forum for the monitoring of global soy production in terms of sustainability.
- Mobilize diverse sectors interested in participating in the Round Table process and organize International Round Table Conferences on Responsible Soy on a periodical basis
The
RTRS is developing a voluntary standard for responsible soy production and encouraging buyers of soy products to direct their purchasing to suppliers that comply with this standard.
WWF is a founding member of the RTRS and is currently represented on the Executive Board.
The Roundtable format enables stakeholders to have an open dialog on how to mitigate environmental impacts and improve production practices.
WWF does not agree with all the viewpoints presented, nor do we endorse the positions of all the stakeholders. However, WWF believes that by developing standards with other stakeholders, we can have a far greater impact than by refusing to participate.
WWF clearly accepts that the RTRS, alone, will not solve the vast array of concerns raised in
the letter.
The scope of concern ranges from the local politics of governance, land-use policy and indigenous peoples’ rights, through to complex questions about a “one-planet” global economy, such as the sustainability of the world’s appetite for soy-fed meat.
The RTRS isn’t a magic bullet that can deal with all these issues, however it can play a role in encouraging better management practices in soy production and reducing the industry’s environmental and social impacts in producer countries.
The RTRS and Genetically Modified Soy (GM soy)
The RTRS is currently "technology neutral" meaning that both GM and non-GM technologies can meet the RTRS standard, along with other technologies such as organic production.
The signatories to
the letter are concerned at the prospect of GM soy being marketed as a “responsible” form of production.
This is an obvious consequence of a technology neutral standard.
However, while the RTRS standards in development (at the time of writing the RTRS General Assembly has not yet ratified a standard) do not bar GM production, they do address many of the social and environmental concerns cited in the letter.
For example, the letter expresses concern over use of the herbicide “glyphosate”. This chemical tends to be associated with zero-till farming methods (zero till has the positive effect of reducing soil erosion, but relies on herbicides rather than mechanical cultivation to control weeds). This farming method is often associated with “Round-up Ready” Soy (a GM variety of soy). The RTRS proposed standard includes a specific provision requiring producers (both GM and non-GM) to prevent drift of agro-chemicals to neighbouring areas and requires them to eliminate use of the “dirty dozen” most toxic agro-chemicals.
WWF’s position on GMOs and RTRS
WWF’s position on GM organisms includes:
- A moratorium on use or release of GMOs into the general environment until ecological interactions are fully researched and safeguards put in place
- Regulatory frameworks for environmental use and release of GMOs should support the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety
- Transparent, comprehensive environmental impact assessment of planned releases into the environment
- Avoidance of additional impacts through genetic modifications
- The control of gene technology
See the full WWF Policy on GM.
If the RTRS principles and criteria included a prohibition on the use of GMs, their potential application would be restricted to the limited proportion of global production (estimated at 30%) that is GM-free. This would limit the potential of the RTRS to address impacts of GM soy production as well.
For this reason, WWF believes that the RTRS criteria should apply to all production technologies, including use of GM soy.
WWF offices in Europe have a history of promoting GM-free soy, as evidenced by their development and promotion of the
Basel Criteria for Responsible Soy (a scheme that was developed in advance of the RTRS), and will continue to do so.
WWF will explore and promote options for identifying and labeling RTRS soy that is non-GM.
Options include an optional protocol within RTRS for those who want to verify that soy is non-GM or use of systems already operating in some national markets to identify non-GM products.
The RTRS and habitat loss
The RTRS members have so far not been able to agree on measures or criteria to discourage expansion of soy cultivation where this involves the conversion of natural habitats.
WWF believes urgent action is needed to resolve the impasse on this issue before the RTRS principles and criteria are presented for ratification.
WWF is working within the RTRS to ensure that the RTRS standard contains strong criteria for the protection of biodiversity and other environmental and social values threatened by the indiscriminate expansion of soy production.