AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY AS A DRIVING FORCE FOR AMAZON DEFORESTATION

 A. G. Viktorov

 

         A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences

Leninsky Prospekt 33, 119071 Moscow, Russian Federation

 

E-mail: aleviktorov@ya.ru

Received: 06.08.2026

Revised: 07.09.2026

Accepted: 15.09.2026

The rapid growth of the global population in the second half of the 20th century has necessitated an increase in the world’s food supply. Initially, this problem was successfully addressed through the advances in plant breeding during the Green Revolution. However, when this potential was exhausted at the end of the last century, the issue found both intensive and extensive solutions. The first involved the creation of genetically modified crops, and the second involved expanding the area of agroecosystems through tropical deforestation. In 2003, these two approaches converged in Brazil, where GM soybeans began to be planted in the place of deforested tropical forests. In accordance with the Jevons paradox, increased land use efficiency led to increased economic incentives for expanding biotech crop fields at the expense of tropical ecosystems.

Keywords: Brazil, Amazon, tropical deforestation, genetically modified soybeans, food security, global food demand

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