Cerrado: Beef trade risks key Brazil ecosystem - campaigners

3 hours ago

By Esme Stallard and Leandro Prazeres
BBC News and BBC Brasil



The Cerrado is the largest grassland in the world and hosts 5% of the world's species



Beef production by three of the world's biggest meatpackers has been linked to illegal deforestation in Brazil's Cerrado, according to campaigners.

The savannah, which featured in Planet Earth III, hosts 5% of Earth's species and is a buffer against global warming.

In one part of the Cerrado, nearly half of the farms supplying the companies had cut down trees, the Global Witness investigation suggests.
The companies, JBS, Minerva and Marfrig said they acted in line with local law.

The Cerrado sits next to the Amazon but unlike its neighbouring habitat has not been afforded the same protections. An upcoming EU law to reduce the import of products from deforested land does not include much of the Cerrado, as it is not considered a forest under the legislation.

In the last year the rate of deforestation in the Amazon has halved whilst in the Cerrado it surged by 43% according to data from Brazilian space agency Inpe.

More:
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68272643