Most soy is grown in South America, where too often it comes at the expense of amazing natural ecosystems that are home to spectacular wildlife like jaguars and giant anteaters.

Think you don’t eat much soy? Think again. In Europe, each of us consumes 61 kg of soy per year on average. Soy is mostly used for animal feed and so the soy we consume is embedded within the meat, farmed fish, dairy, eggs and other animal products we eat. But how does that relate to deforestation?

To grow soy, vast expanses of land are needed. In South America, the negative impact of soy reaches well beyond the Amazon rainforest, with equally important ecosystems such as the Cerrado, the Chaco and the Atlantic Forest all under severe threat.

More than 20% of Brazil is covered by the little-known but precious Cerrado savannah. But right now, the Cerrado is disappearing faster than the Amazon rainforest. One of the main causes is commercial agriculture – including vast fields of soy.

The Cerrado is renowned for its biodiversity – it’s home to a third of the species in Brazil and over 5% of all the species in the world, including the giant anteater. 44% of its plant species exist nowhere else on Earth.

Growing production of soy, which mainly ends up as animal feed and then ultimately in products in supermarkets, has put huge pressure on the Cerrado. Already an area half the size of Mexico has been replaced by soy monoculture in the Cerrado.

In the Chaco, the second largest expanse of forest in South America after the Amazon, agriculture has contributed to decimating the region’s nature. 15% of the Chaco is already gone, and up to 85% of it in some sub-regions. This puts species such as the jaguar at great risk.

The damage to ecosystems from soy agriculture can be reduced. ‘Responsible soy’, which doesn't harm vital ecosystems and people, is available. But the bad news is that not enough of it is being produced and sold – together, we can change this.

WWF asks companies that use soy to commit to buy only responsible soy. This is soy that was grown without causing deforestation or threatening valuable wildlife. Without such a commitment, we risk losing more of the Amazon, the Cerrado and the Chaco, and the biodiversity they are home to.