Cattle ranching continues to be the top cause of deforestation.
In 2009, Walmart, Nike and other global companies vowed to stop buying beef and leather from Brazilian companies operating in the Amazon.
Brazil produces more beef than any other country except the United States and exports more than anywhere else, sending 20% of its production to Hong Kong, China, the European Union and several smaller buyers. By 2013 just 4% of Amazon-based suppliers to JBS and other meatpackers in the Para agreement could be linked to deforestation — down from 36% before the measures took effect, according toMore broadly, cattle became easier to trace, because the tens of thousands of ranches that supplied the slaughterhouses covered by the Para agreement registered their properties with the state government. The vast majority had never had a legal deed to their land.
The second problem is that there is no guarantee that beef from the approved ranches is actually rainforest-friendly. That may be too optimistic. A joint investigation published this year by the Guardian, Reporter Brasil and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that a farm operating near Sao Felix do Xingu in the state of Para was raising cattle on illegally cleared forest and then laundering them through legal fattening farms, which sold to JBS.
The new president, Jair Bolsonaro, was elected in large part for his nationalist views, including the common belief that Brazil should be free to develop the Amazon as it sees fit.
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