The world’s forests and other land ecosystems are under continuous and increasing pressure from the unsustainable expansion of agricultural production, as well as other extractive activities such as mining and logging. One effective way to safeguard these lands is to institute a moratorium on ecosystem conversions. For example, in 2006, a group of large soy traders agreed to avoid purchasing soybeans from areas of the Brazilian Amazon that were deforested after 2008. This was successful in preventing an estimated 18,000 km of deforestation in Brazil between 2006 and 2016, although roughly 4,100 km of deforestation was displaced to nearby forested countries. In 2018, Indonesia also issued a moratorium on new palm oil concessions and in 2019, made another nationwide moratorium on new concessions in primary forests and peatlands permanent, both of which contributed to declines in forest loss between 2018 and 2021. 

The world’s forests and other land ecosystems are under continuous and increasing pressure from the unsustainable expansion of agricultural production, as well as other extractive activities such as mining and logging. One effective way to safeguard these lands is to institute a moratorium on ecosystem conversions. For example, in 2006, a group of large soy traders agreed to avoid purchasing soybeans from areas of the Brazilian Amazon that were deforested after 2008. This was successful in preventing an estimated 18,000 km of deforestation in Brazil between 2006 and 2016, although roughly 4,100 km of deforestation was displaced to nearby forested countries. In 2018, Indonesia also issued a moratorium on new palm oil concessions and in 2019, made another nationwide moratorium on new concessions in primary forests and peatlands permanent, both of which contributed to declines in forest loss between 2018 and 2021.