Today Greenpeace was glad to be part of the announcement that the Amazon Soy Moratorium has officially been extended to July 2010. This is a crucial piece of Amazon protection, so its extension is welcome news indeed.

Approximately 100 km (62 mi) above Manaus, in Brazil's Amazonas state, the Anavilhanas is the largest river archipelago in the world with over 400 islands. © Greenpeace / Daniel Beltrá

The Soy Moratorium is essentially a commitment not to trade soy from areas in the Amazon Biome that were deforested after July 24, 2006. The moratorium is enforced by the Soy Working Group (abbreviated as GTS based on its Portuguese name), which was established in 2006 to implement the moratorium and is made up of representatives from the soy growing and exporting industry as well as various NGOs, including Greenpeace, WWF, and the Nature Conservancy.

Originally, the Soy Moratorium was an initiative of the private sector and various environmental and conservation NGOs, but the Moratorium received the support of the Brazil's Minister of Environment, Carlos Minc, who formally joined the initiative last year. Thanks to the Soy Moratorium, soy is no longer the chief driver of Amazon deforestation. That distinction belongs to cattle ranching, which is responsible for 80% of deforestation in the Amazon. Greenpeace is calling for a cattle moratorium to match the protect the Amazon.

Prior to the Soy Moratorium, large swaths of Amazon were clearcut for soy plantations, while tiny islands of intact rainforest such as this one were left behind to meet lax government standards. © Greenpeace

Read more about this great news here, as well as what the GTS says about the new challenges it is facing in monitoring deforestation and flagging new soy plantations for the industry groups to add to their Do Not Buy lists.