The expansion of soy production threatens wildlife and ecosystems in South America. It has contributed to the loss of over half of the Cerrado biome in Brazil, the world's most biodiverse savannah. Soy cultivation often displaces small farmers and uses pesticides that can contaminate water sources. Much of the soy is used as feed for poultry and pork consumed in Europe, linking European diets to environmental impacts abroad through land use for soy production. Conservation efforts are needed to protect habitats and species from further soy-driven destruction.

1. Wildlife &
Ecosystems
threatened by the
irresponsible
expansion of soy
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© Staffan Widtrand / WWF

2. © Michel Gunther / WWF-Canon
South America’s Atlantic Forest: As of 2000, less than 8% of the total original area of this
region remained

3. © Juan Pratginestos / WWF-Canon
The golden lion tamarin, found in patches of the Atlantic Forest, is an endangered
species with an estimated wild population of only approximately 1,500 individuals

4. © Martin Harvey / WWF-Canon
The white-tufted-ear marmoset lives in wooded savannah and on the edge of remnants
of the Atlantic Forest

5. © Martin Harvey / WWF-Canon
The threatened red brocket, seen here in the Atlantic Forest

6. © Vida Silvestre
Chaco: The Río de Oro (Gold River) in Argentina cuts through the largest dry forest in
South America and is the continent’s most extensive forested region after the Amazon

7. © Michel Gunther / WWF-Canon
The jaguar, also found in the Gran Chaco, is the largest cat in the western hemisphere, the
top predator in lowland ecosystems, and an important figure in many indigenous cultures

8. © Nigel Dickinson / WWF-Canon
Amazon: About 1/2 of the planet's remaining tropical rainforests are found in this
ecoregion

9. © André Bärtschi / WWF-Canon
An Amazon tree boa, hanging from a liana. At least 10% of the world's known species
are found in the Amazon.

10. © WWF
Brazil’s Cerrado: a vast savannah the size of Mexico, brimming with natural life

11. © Martin Harvey / WWF-Canon
The maned wolf, one of the Cerrado’s emblematic species

12. © Hartmut Jungius / WWF-Canon
Listed as “vulnerable to extinction” on the IUCN Red List, the giant anteater is already
considered extinct in some parts of Brazil

13. © WWF
44% of the Cerrado’s plant species exist nowhere else on Earth

14. © Juan Pratginestos / WWF-Canon
Around 300 of the Cerrado’s native plant species are used as food, medicine,
handicrafts or for trade

15. © Michel Gunther / WWF-Canon
60 vulnerable animal species – 20 endangered and 12 critically endangered – struggle
for survival in the Cerrado

16. © Zig Koch / WWF
Cerrado savannah flower, Juruena National Park, Brazil

17. © WWF
A road separates the Cerrado’s native savannah with a cleared area destined for a
soybean plantation. Half of the Cerrado has been lost to agriculture as of 2012.

18. © Adriano Gambarini / WWF-Brazil
The Cerrado is disappearing faster than the Amazon rainforest, mainly as a result of
commercial agriculture – especially vast fields of soy

19. Original Cerrado
Conservation International 2002

20. Cerrado in 2002
Conservation International 2002

21. © Nigel Dickinson / WWF-Canon
In addition to causing negative environmental impacts, the expansion of soybean
agriculture also often displaces small-scale farmers

22. © James W. Thorsell / WWF-Canon
The application of pesticides for soy cultivation is not without risk—agrochemicals could
contaminate soil, and surface and underground water sources

23. Wirralwater / Creative Commons
Soy is exported from South America and elsewhere to meet a growing demand for feed,
especially for chickens and pigs

24. © Steve Morgan / WWF-UK
On average, each European consumer eats 87 kg of meat and 250 eggs per year. To
produce this, 400 square metres of land per person is needed.

25. jamesdkirk / Creative Commons
This is how our eating habits indirectly contribute to negative environmental and social impacts,
including deforestation and biodiversity loss, in South America and other soy producing countries

26. Find out more
wwf.panda.org/soyandyou
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