Dear Loukas
on behalf of WWF we express our appreciation for giving us the opportunity to comment. Overall we feel that the article accurately portrays the two approaches currently pursued by NGOs to address soy expansion in Latin America. With respect to the Roundtable and the counter meeting in Foz, we would like to point out, that: - the Roundtable is an open forum and GRR as well as other NGOs have been invited to attend. Information about the Roundtable is available in three languages (Portuguese, Spanish, English) on www.responsiblesoy.org - a number of small NGOs and networks did indeed attend the Roundtable meeting (see participants list: www.responsiblesoy.org/downloads/ListadoParticipantes.pdf) and openly voiced their opinions.
- we would like to point out that Fetraf-Sul, a Brazilian small farmers' association with roughly 300,000 members have been involved in the Roundtable's organizing committee since its inception in 2004. Hence Fetraf-Sul, Unilever, Coop, Maggi, Cordaid and WWF conceived and organized the Roundtable. - we are sympathetic to some criticisms pertaining to soy production, in particular as they relate to human livelIhoods and agribusiness. WWF's approach is to try to reform the current agricultural system from within, whereas other NGOs choose to work outside the system. We hope that you can consider some of our comments in your upcoming
article. Best regards, Sandra Charity, Head of Species and Forests Programmes at WWF-UK
on behalf of WWF we express our appreciation for giving us the opportunity to comment. Overall we feel that the article accurately portrays the two approaches currently pursued by NGOs to address soy expansion in Latin America. With respect to the Roundtable and the counter meeting in Foz, we would like to point out, that: - the Roundtable is an open forum and GRR as well as other NGOs have been invited to attend. Information about the Roundtable is available in three languages (Portuguese, Spanish, English) on www.responsiblesoy.org - a number of small NGOs and networks did indeed attend the Roundtable meeting (see participants list: www.responsiblesoy.org/downloads/ListadoParticipantes.pdf) and openly voiced their opinions.
- we would like to point out that Fetraf-Sul, a Brazilian small farmers' association with roughly 300,000 members have been involved in the Roundtable's organizing committee since its inception in 2004. Hence Fetraf-Sul, Unilever, Coop, Maggi, Cordaid and WWF conceived and organized the Roundtable. - we are sympathetic to some criticisms pertaining to soy production, in particular as they relate to human livelIhoods and agribusiness. WWF's approach is to try to reform the current agricultural system from within, whereas other NGOs choose to work outside the system. We hope that you can consider some of our comments in your upcoming
article. Best regards, Sandra Charity, Head of Species and Forests Programmes at WWF-UK