Beef production by Brazil’s three biggest meatpackers is fuelling illegal deforestation in the Cerrado region, with an area bigger than Chicago cleared between 2008 and 2019 by ranches supplying the companies, an NGO investigation has found.
Global Witness analysed animal transport permits to identify the origin of cattle in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, and then used satellite data to investigate the condition of suppliers’ lands.
According to the report, 42.8% of the farms supplying JBS, Marfrig, and Minerva Foods have engaged in deforestation. Only 1% of the land was cleared legally, it said.
“Deforestation linked to the Brazilian trio was nearly five times greater in the Cerrado area of Mato Grosso than in its Amazon territory, where in the latter the companies have legal agreements for monitoring their supplies,” the investigation said.
“One in three cows (36%) that the companies bought from the Cerrado within Mato Grosso came from farms with illegally deforested land. JBS was linked to the most farms with deforestation in both biomes.”
JBS, Minerva, and Marfrig said they had complied with local laws.
Source: Global Witness
REGULATION FLAWS
The Cerrado is the second-largest Brazilian biome. Its savannah forest covers 22% of the country and is home to over 6,000 tree species, making it one of the world’s most biodiverse regions.
While deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon dropped by 66% in 2023, marking the lowest rate in six years, in the Cerrado it climbed to record levels – up by 43% from 2022 – partly due to less stringent regulations.
Large areas of the region are also excluded by the upcoming EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), the bloc’s law aiming to prohibit the trade of commodities produced on deforested land.
The law – coming into force on Dec. 30, 2024 – is informed by a definition used by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which deems forests as areas covered by “trees higher than five meters with a canopy cover of more than 10%”.
An estimated 79 million hectares of the Cerrado forest savannah do not fit these criteria, and are thus not covered by the regulation, according to a separate study.
“However, the EUDR also requires companies to comply with legislation in the country of production, including local environmental laws and forest-related rules,” Global Witness said.
“This could mean illegalities in the clearance of land for cattle ranching in the Cerrado puts products such as beef and leather at high risk of being prevented from entering the EU market once the EUDR enters into application.”
TOP IMPORTERS
While China made up for the largest share of beef exported from Mato Grosso in 2019, at least 14 slaughterhouses owned by JBS, Marfrig, and Minerva had authorisation to ship to EU countries as of that year.
Since animal transport permits are no longer public, researchers also used available trade data to analyse more recent commercial flows, finding that the UK was among the top beef importers from the three companies over the last six years.
“From 2018 to 2023, the UK imported 2,223 tonnes from JBS, 1,743 tonnes from Marfrig, and 683 tonnes from Minerva,” the report said.
“Combined, that suggests that these three companies were responsible for almost half of all the beef sent to the UK from Mato Grosso state over that period.”
The Brazilian government has recently recognised deforestation in the Cerrado as a major threat to biodiversity in the country.
Last year, during the COP28 UN climate summit in Dubai, the PPCerrado plan was launched, aiming to eliminate deforestation in the region by 2030.
Deforestation is a major contributor to Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions, with land use changes accounting for 48% of the total in 2022.
By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com
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