Brazil's Amazon rainforest at risk as key protection under threat

Brazilian farmers want to end a ban on planting soya on cleared land, which critics say would spur deforestation.

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The ban - which prohibits the sale of soya grown on land cleared after 2008 - is widely credited with curbing deforestation and has been held up as a global environmental success story.

But powerful farming interests in Brazil, backed by a group of Brazilian politicians, are pushing to lift the restrictions as the COP30 UN climate conference enters its second week.

Critics of the ban say it is an unfair "cartel" which allows a small group of powerful companies to dominate the Amazon's soya trade.

Environmental groups have warned removing the ban would be "disaster", opening the way for a new wave of land grabbing to plant more soya in the world's largest rainforest.