BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil's environmental protection agency IBAMA imposed fines of 365 million reais ($64 million) on livestock ranches and meat processors, including the world's largest. JBS SA (OTC:), to raise or buy livestock on illegally deforested lands in the amazon (NASDAQ:).
IBAMA reported that it identified 69 properties that sold 18,000 heads of cattle raised on deforested lands and 23 meat processing companies that bought the cattle in the states of Pará and Amazonas.
The law enforcement operation aimed to curb deforestation in the amazon by tracking the chain that produces or sells livestock in illegally deforested areas, IBAMA said.
JBS denied having purchased cattle on the properties named by IBAMA.
“None of the JBS purchases indicated by IBAMA were made in embargoed areas,” the company stated.
JBS added in a statement that its geospatial monitoring system ensures that the company does not acquire animals from farms involved in illegal deforestation, invasion of indigenous lands or environmental conservation areas.
Extensive livestock farming along with land clearing to sell wood or grow soybeans are driving deforestation in the amazon rainforest.
<img src="https://technicalterrence.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Brazil-fines-slaughterhouses-64-million-for-buying-cattle-from-deforested.jpg" title="© Reuters. A view from a drone shows a deforested plot of Brazil's amazon rainforest in the municipality of Humaita, Amazonas state, Brazil, August 7, 2024. REUTERS/Adriano Machado/File Photo” alt=”© Reuters. A view from a drone shows a deforested plot of Brazil's amazon rainforest in the municipality of Humaita, Amazonas state, Brazil, August 7, 2024. REUTERS/Adriano Machado/File Photo” rel=”external-image”/>
Several meatpackers signed pledges with prosecutors in 2013, pledging not to buy cattle from ranches that were illegally logged or blacklisted for environmental crimes.
JBS and more than a dozen other major agricultural companies have also pledged to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains by 2025, including destruction linked to indirect suppliers who sell to middlemen who then sell to meatpackers.
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