{"id":191627,"date":"2025-04-18T22:14:30","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T22:14:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/activist\/revealed-worlds-largest-meat-company-may-break-amazon-deforestation-pledges-again-amazon-rainforest\/"},"modified":"2025-04-18T22:14:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T22:14:30","slug":"revealed-worlds-largest-meat-company-may-break-amazon-deforestation-pledges-again-amazon-rainforest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=191627","title":{"rendered":"Revealed: world\u2019s largest meat company may break Amazon deforestation pledges again | Amazon rainforest"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The world\u2019s largest meat company, JBS, looks set to break its Amazon rainforest<\/a> protection promises again, according to frontline workers.<\/p>\n

Beef production is the primary driver of deforestation, as trees are cleared to raise cattle, and scientists warn this is pushing the Amazon close to a tipping point that would accelerate its shift from a carbon sink into a carbon emitter. JBS, the Brazil-headquartered multinational that dominates the Brazilian cattle market, promised to address this with a commitment to clean up its beef supply chain in the region by the end of 2025.<\/p>\n

In a project to understand the barriers to progress on Amazon deforestation, a team of journalists from the Guardian, Unearthed and Rep\u00f3rter Brasil interviewed more than 35 people, including ranchers and ranching union leaders who represent thousands of farms in the states of Par\u00e1 and Rond\u00f4nia. The investigation found widespread disbelief that JBS would be able to complete the groundwork and hit its deforestation targets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey certainly have the will to do it, just as we have the will to do it,\u201d said one rancher. But the goal that all the cattle they bought would be deforestation-free was unreachable, he said. \u201cThey say this is going to be implemented. I\u2019d say straight away: that\u2019s impossible.\u201d The problem of illegal cattle laundering would also not be resolved in time, said many, while another interviewee said land ownership issues meant quite simply that the deadline was \u201cimpossible\u201d.<\/p>\n

JBS told the Guardian that it contested the conclusions. \u201cDrawing inferences and conclusions from a limited sample of 30 farmers while disregarding that JBS has over 40,000 registered suppliers is entirely irresponsible,\u201d the company said in a statement. It said that \u201cwhile the sector-wide challenges are significant and larger than any one company can solve on its own, we believe JBS has an in-depth and robust series of integrated policies, systems, and investments that are making a material and positive impact on reducing deforestation risks.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Amazon tree cover map<\/a><\/figure>\n

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To hit its targets, JBS needs to register all its direct and indirect suppliers and ensure none of the meat it buys from the Amazon is from cattle that has grazed on deforested land. It has established a network of \u201cgreen offices\u201d to provide free consultation to ranchers on how to comply with the three- to six-month process of regularisation, which involves drawing up a plan to plant more trees, withdrawing from contested territory, or making other environmental remediations. Then details will go into the JBS database, which continually monitors farms using artificial intelligence, and owners will be contacted if they fail to meet their obligations. In Par\u00e1, the company is also working with the state government on an ear-tagging scheme that would track the state\u2019s entire herd of 26 million cattle by 2026.<\/p>\n

The Par\u00e1 state governor, Helder Barbalho, who has supported the traceability plan, expects JBS to meet its deadline, but he acknowledged there had been resistance and that small farmers in particular would need more support. He said the Bezos Earth Fund had committed 143m reais to this task: \u201cWe are still mobilising resources so that we can finance this policy that is very important for us to present to livestock farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n

But ranchers and rancher unions interviewed by the Guardian and its partners said that technical hurdles and uncertainties over land ownership \u2013 many ranches were created by invading public land \u2013 stood no chance of resolution by the company\u2019s self-imposed deadline.<\/p>\n

Adelosmar Antonio Orio, known as Tic\u00e3o, who works for the Tucuma\u00e3-Ourila\u00e3ndia Union of Rural Producers, said the logistical challenges, such as ranchers needing special equipment including ear trackers and satellite internet systems, would make the scheme impossible to complete before the year-end deadline. \u201cNot even they [JBS] know how this traceability is going to be implemented,\u201d he said. Others argued that new small- and medium-sized producers were being asked to bear most of the burden of the new system and that JBS and the government had not done enough to explain the new tracking system and provide the technological support needed to make it work.<\/p>\n

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