According to an article by Mongabay, Bolivia is facing a severe deforestation problem due to soy plantations, with satellite data showing that soy plantations were responsible for over 900,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) of deforestation between 2001 and 2021. Nearly quarter of this deforestation was caused by Mennonite communities, who legally purchased the land with the intention of expanding their simple, rural lifestyles. This new understanding of Mennonite activity in Bolivia comes from a new data set from Global Forest Watch, which combined soy plantation mapping with forest loss imagery to determine soy-driven deforestation. Mennonite soy farms have been a main driver of deforestation in the Beni and Santa Cruz departments, where vulnerable areas like the dry forest biome of Chiquitana are already suffering from drought and fires caused by climate change. The figures come from a new Global Forest Watch data set on soy plantations, which was merged with forest loss imagery to determine soy-driven deforestation.