Chicken sold in the UK is causing deforestation, according to a new report from Greenpeace.
The new report states that supermarkets within the UK are contributing to deforestation because of the food that chickens are eating: soya. Chickens which are sold in the UK eat soya from land that has been destroyed due to deforestation, so that the land could be used for agricultural purposes. Those agriculture purposes are often caused by farmers who have cleared the rainforest so that they can grow soya.
That soya is then used to feed farm animals like chickens.
Soya imports into the UK are fed to farm animals across the UK like chickens. The soya trade is one of the main contributing factors to the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. Last year deforestation of the Amazon rainforest was the worst that it has been for over a decade, as there was a 30% increase in the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.
Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest last year was particularly bad, as it was a year that the Amazon rainforest burned. The Amazon rainforest fires started in August 2019 and there are still fires today. The fires in the Amazon rainforest have been occurring due to farmers and loggers clearing the land for things like agriculture purposes. Intentional fires are common in the Amazon rainforest to clear land for things like agriculture. This land will usually be cleared to grow things like soya, then that soya ends up in the UK and is given to farm animals to eat.
The latest Greenpeace report shows that cheap chicken and chicken feed is 'one of the worse causes of 'deforestation' in the Amazon rainforest.
Greenpeace also says that our soya intake has doubled since 1997, which probably means that our contribution to deforestation in places like the Amazon rainforest has likely doubled. Having a plant-based diet, such as being vegan, can help to reduce the destruction of the rainforests massively.