Brazil’s new environment minister Carlos Minc has called for the timber sector to replicate a soya deal which bans purchases of soya from deforested areas of the Amazon.
Mr Minc’s comments came as he announced a one-year extension to the soya purchasing ban.
Greenpeace welcomed the move and said a “firewall” of moratoria on soya, beef and timber could be the key to achieving the protection needed to save the Amazon rainforest.
“Inspired by the success of this initiative, the Brazilian government is negotiating similar approaches with the timber and beef industries,” Mr Minc told a news conference.
The soya deal extension was struck by Greenpeace and McDonald’s.
