{"id":237168,"date":"2023-06-12T12:00:50","date_gmt":"2023-06-12T11:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=237168"},"modified":"2023-06-11T07:51:34","modified_gmt":"2023-06-11T06:51:34","slug":"over-800-million-trees-felled-to-feed-appetite-for-beef-from-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/06\/over-800-million-trees-felled-to-feed-appetite-for-beef-from-brazil\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 800 Million Trees Felled to Feed Appetite for Beef from Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A composite of Brazilian cattle against a backdrop of deforestation.
Credits: Jo\u00e3o Laet\/Rep\u00f3rter Brasil\/The Guardian; Canva<\/p><\/div>\n

2 Jun 2023 – <\/em>More than 800 million trees have been cut down in the Amazon rainforest in just six years to feed the world\u2019s appetite for Brazilian beef, despite dire warnings about the forest\u2019s importance in fighting the climate crisis.<\/p>\n

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A data-driven investigation by TBIJ, the Guardian, Rep\u00f3rter Brasil and Forbidden Stories shows systematic and vast forest loss linked to cattle farming.<\/p>\n

The beef industry in Brazil has previously pledged to avoid farms linked to deforestation. However, the new data reveals that 17,000 sq km of the Amazon was destroyed near meat plants exporting beef around the world.<\/p>\n

The investigation is part of Forbidden Stories\u2019 Bruno and Dom Project<\/a>. It continues the work of Bruno Pereira, an Indigenous peoples expert and Dom Phillips, a Guardian journalist, who were murdered in the Amazon last year.<\/p>\n

Deforestation across Brazil soared between 2019 and 2022 under President Jair Bolsonaro, with cattle ranching the number one culprit. The new administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has promised to curb the destruction.<\/p>\n

Researchers at the consultancy AidEnvironment used satellite imagery, livestock movement records and other data to calculate forest loss between 2017 and 2022 on thousands of ranches near more than 20 slaughterhouses. All the meat plants were owned by Brazil\u2019s big three beef exporters \u2013 JBS, Marfrig and Minerva.<\/p>\n

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To find the farms that most likely supplied each slaughterhouse, the researchers looked at \u201cbuying zones\u201d; these are areas based on transport connections and other factors, and, where possible, confirmed by interviews with plant representatives. All the meat plants exported internationally, including to the EU, the UK and China, the world\u2019s biggest buyer of Brazilian beef.<\/p>\n

The research focused on slaughterhouses in the states of Mato Grosso, Par\u00e1 and Rond\u00f4nia \u2013 important frontiers of deforestation associated with ranching. It\u2019s likely that the overall figure for deforestation on farms supplying JBS, Marfrig and Minerva is higher, because they run other plants elsewhere in the Amazon.<\/p>\n

Nestl\u00e9 and the German meat company T\u00f6nnies, which had supplied Lidl and Aldi, were among those who had bought from the meat plants featured in the study. Dozens of wholesale buyers, some of which supply the catering businesses that serve schools and hospitals, also appeared in the list of buyers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Nestl\u00e9 said two of the three meatpackers were not currently part of its supply chain, and added: \u201cWe may scrutinize business relationships with our suppliers who are unwilling or unable to address gaps in compliance with our standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

T\u00f6nnies said: \u201cThese Brazilian companies process many thousands of animals per year for export,\u201d and claimed it was unclear whether the company had received products from plants linked to deforestation.<\/p>\n

Lidl and Aldi said they stopped selling Brazilian beef in 2021 and 2022, respectively.<\/p>\n

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More than 17,000 sq km of rainforest was felled in the areas around meat plants in the Brazilian Amazon.\u00a0 Jo\u00e3o Laet\/Rep\u00f3rter Brasil\/The Guardian<\/p><\/div>\n

TO READ FULL REPORT Go to Original – thebureauinvestigates.com<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Reporters: <\/em> Andrew Wasley, Elis\u00e2ngela Mendon\u00e7a, Youssr Youssef and Robert Soutar
\nAdditional reporting: Andr\u00e9 Campos (Rep\u00f3rter Brasil), Jeroen Wester, Karlijn Kuijpers (NRC), Eduardo Goulart (OCCRP), Julius Bretzel, Dajana Kollig, Carina Huppertz (Paper Trail Media)
\n<\/em>Research: Aidenvironment
\n<\/em>Environment editor: Robert Soutar<\/em>
\nEditor: Meirion Jones
\n<\/em>Production: Frankie Goodway
\n<\/em>Impact producer: Grace Murray
\n<\/em>Fact checker: Emily Goddard
\nSpecial thanks: Kuang Keng Kuek Ser<\/em><\/p>\n

Our Food and Farming project is partly funded by Quadrature Climate Foundation and partly by the Hollick Family Foundation. None of our funders have any influence over our editorial decisions or output. This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center\u2019s Rainforest Investigations Network.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism is an independent not-for-profit organisation that holds power to account. We find the facts to expose wrongs and spark change. We tell the stories that matter. Established in April 2010, the Bureau is the first of its kind in the UK, where philanthropically funded journalism is rare. Our\u00a0<\/em>team of journalists<\/em><\/a>\u00a0bolsters original news by producing high-quality investigations for press and broadcast media with the aim of educating the public and the media on both the realities of today\u2019s world and the value of honest reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

Please support our work – share this article.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 thebureauinvestigates.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2 Jun 2023 – More than 800 million trees have been cut down in the Amazon rainforest in just six years to feed the world\u2019s appetite for Brazilian beef, despite the climate crisis. A data-driven investigation by TBIJ, the Guardian, Rep\u00f3rter Brasil and Forbidden Stories shows systematic and vast forest loss linked to cattle farming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":237172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[2302,1642,1690,686,794,519,401,1387,1799,1393,993,866,846,2702,1255,3003],"class_list":["post-237168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","tag-amazon","tag-carbon-dioxide","tag-cattle-and-ranch-farmers","tag-climate-change","tag-deforestation","tag-ecology","tag-environment","tag-fauna","tag-flora","tag-forest-fires","tag-global-warming","tag-indigenous-rights","tag-meat-industry","tag-native-cultures","tag-rain-forests","tag-violence-against-animals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237168"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":237173,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237168\/revisions\/237173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}