Blog: Forests

In July 2003, a Greenpeace team helped the indigenous Deni Indian communities in the Amazon to demarcate their homeland. The land was under threat from a Malaysian logging company.

"Trees are the lungs of this planet, our allies in the fight against carbon overloading. They are also living giants, vast natural edifices which we can admire for their longevity, poise, scale and beauty. Who doesn't recoil at the terrifying fact that simply vast areas of forest are being removed from the planet every year?

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.