OUT OF THE FIRE aND INTO THE FRYING PaN

Previous exposés by Greenpeace186 and other NGOs have brought attention to the role of industrial beef production in the destruction of the Amazon and the need to ensure full visibility of cattle supply chains beyond direct suppliers within that biome. However, significant destruction of other frontiers – including the Cerrado and the Pantanal – continues, with little public awareness and free from the supply chain monitoring/policy commitments of the main meat processors. This lack of oversight breeds lack of accountability for the wider impacts of the sector.

The purpose of the analysis presented in this report is to shine a spotlight on the destruction of the Pantanal. The first step was to identify ranchers linked to the fires that devastated the biome in 2020, which officials in Brazil agree were almost universally of human origin.187 The next was to investigate whether cattle from the affected properties or others owned by the same ranchers have historically entered the supply chains of Brazil’s largest beef processors, which trade internationally and supply numerous well-known consumer goods and fast food companies.

WHaT IS aN EMBaRGO?

IBAMA publishes a list of farms that have breached environmental legislation such as Brazil’s Forest Code – eg by carrying out illegal deforestation – and that are prohibited (embargoed) from producing in a specified area of their landholding (which may comprise the whole farm or only part of it) until they regularise their situation, for example through payment of a fine and land restoration.

WHaT IS a PROPERTY REGISTRaTION IRREGULaRITY?

A criterion of Brazil’s Forest Code is that rural producers must register the boundaries of their properties with the environment agency to aid it in its monitoring and enforcement of environmental regulations. Irregularities in this registration – notably its suspension or cancellation – signal problems such as overlap with protected areas, Indigenous lands or other registrations.

An irregularity is indicated by a registration status of ‘pending’, ‘suspended’ or ‘cancelled’ in the federal (CAR website ‘Consultar demonstrativo do CAR’) or state (Secretário de Estado de Meio Ambiente de Mato Grosso website ‘SIMCAR portal público’) land registry.