Amazon Deforestation Supports Meat, Soy and Wood Markets

[Judi Lynn]

Companies are complicit in illegality, study says; companies say they choose zealous partners

Sep.10.2019 11:54AM

Ana Carolina Amaral
SÃO PAULO
Although illegal deforestation, burning, and land grabbing are often carried out by independent groups of large exporters, the profit that keeps the cycle thriving in the Amazon is supported by global commodity chains—particularly timber, meat, and soy.

Companies like JBS, Bunge, and Santander are accomplices in the Amazon deforestation, according to a study that investigated the relationships between Ibama-charged groups and large commodity consumers in the United States and Europe.

A few months before the signing of the trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur, signed in late June, an investigation led by the NGO Amazon Watch, in partnership with Brazilian and European organizations, sought to connect the points of these production chains.



A firefighter from ABAFA Amazonia operation puts out a fire in a forest in the city of Uniao do Sul, in Mato Grosso, Brazil September 4, 2019. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli ORG XMIT: GGG-AMP01 - REUTERS

The objective was to alert European and American consumers - who account for 18% and 11% respectively of Brazilian commodity exports - about their responsibility for the conservation of the Amazon.

More:
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/scienceandhealth/2019/09/amazon-deforestation-supports-meat-soy-and-wood-markets.shtml