Over 800 Million Trees Felled To Feed Appetite for Brazilian Beef

[Judi Lynn]

JUNE 2, 2023

Authors:

Elisângela Mendonça
RAINFOREST INVESTIGATIONS FELLOW

Andrew Wasley
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

Youssr Youssef
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

Rob Soutar
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

More than 800 million trees have been cut down in the Amazon rainforest in just six years to feed the world’s appetite for Brazilian beef, despite dire warnings about the forest’s importance in fighting the climate crisis.

A data-driven investigation by TBIJ, the Guardian, Repórter Brasil and Forbidden Stories shows systematic and vast forest loss linked to cattle farming.

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.

The investigation is part of Forbidden Stories’ Bruno and Dom Project. 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.

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.

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’s big three beef exporters — JBS, Marfrig and Minerva.

More:
https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/over-800-million-trees-felled-feed-appetite-brazilian-beef

[2naSalit]

1. K&R

[Blue Owl]

2. K&R for visibility

[Duppers]

3. The U.S. Imports a lot of Brazilian beef.

The US imported a record-breaking amount of fresh beef from Brazil in 2022. In January 2022 alone, imports reached nearly 100 million pounds—a more than 500 percent increase relative to the same month a year earlier—with fresh beef accounting for 83 million pounds, according to USDA.

https://www.tsln.com/news/us-imports-from-brazil-continue/#:~:text=However%2C%20the%20US%20imported%20a,million%20pounds%2C%20according%20to%20USDA.



Glad I stopped eating beef, even burgers some yrs ago but regret that I cannot shame my hubby and son into giving it up. They must buy it themselves because I refuse to.

Saving cattle = saving a forest.


Thanks for this thread, Judi.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Incredible amount of beef. I think the world is moving away from eating so much of it, too.

You undoubtedly have noticed the growing practice of referring to meat simply as "protein." I think that means there's a very deep level reluctance to it forming or why would there be a popular trend being used increasingly to find other ways of saying "M.E.A.T.?" I've heard chefs on TV using that, starting several years ago.

If people only took the time to even think for a moment about the process, and what really is involved beyond instant gratification, there would be a massive review going on, and most likely, a growing need for moving on, for growing up, for evolving! It's always hard to break away from deeply ingrained habits which become instinctual.

Oh, yeah, I just remembered the arrival of the term "comfort foods." So much of this seems beyond anyone's control, at first.

Really like your idea: Saving cattle = saving a forest.

It couldn't be truer, and more serious.