In an unusual series of legal actions, Brazilian prosecutors have sued multinational meatpacker JBS and three smaller slaughterhouses for allegedly buying cattle directly from illegal ranches in a protected area. The lawsuits include a type of evidence that is turning heads among Brazilian environmental authorities — transit documents that purport to show a direct sale of cattle from deforested protected areas to the meatpackers. Usually when deforestation beef is at issue, the cattle have had their origin obscured. JBS said nearly all its cattle are purchased legally.
The lawsuits, filed in December by the western Brazilian state of Rondonia, target the exploitation of a protected area known as Jaci-Parana, once rainforest but now mostly transformed into grassland by decades of misuse by land-grabbers, loggers, and cattle ranchers. Despite a law forbidding commercial cattle in the reserve, some 216,000 head now graze on pasture there, according to the state animal division.
The lawsuits contain a type of evidence that is getting the attention of deforestation experts and veterans of Brazil’s illegal cattle trade: transfer documents showing cows going straight to the slaughterhouse from protected areas, with the information apparently provided by the illegal ranchers themselves. “In two decades fighting illegal cattle-raising in the Amazon, I had never encountered a transit permit with the name of a conservation unit on it,” said Jair Schmitt, chief of environmental protection at Brazil’s federal environmental agency, Ibama.
Of the 17 lawsuits, three name JBS, along with farmers, who allegedly sold 227 cattle raised in Jaci-Parana. The suits seek some $3.4 million for “invading, occupying, exploiting, causing environmental damage, preventing natural regeneration, and/or taking economic advantage” of the protected lands. JBS declined to answer questions from The Associated Press, saying it “has not been summoned by the court, which makes it impossible to conduct any analysis yet.”
Three smaller meatpacking companies are also accused of causing environmental harm by buying cattle from the reserve. Frigon, Distriboi and Tangara did not respond to questions. Frigon has ties to influential people in Rondonia politics and is accused of buying the largest number of cattle — almost 1,400 head from eight illicit ranches. The state’s attorney is seeking $17.2 million from Frigon and those farmers.
The lawsuits aim to put a price on the destruction of old-growth rainforest, a difficult task given that it is virtually irreplaceable except over decades. A court filing pegs damages in the reserve at some $1 billion. It is unclear whether the hundreds of other invaders in Jaci-Parana will also be sued for compensation.
“The invaders and their main business partners — loggers and meatpacking companies — make the profits their own while passing on to society the costs of environmental damage,” the lawsuits say.
Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest is a major concern, with the development pressure threatening a critical carbon sink for a planet that’s warming dangerously from climate change. Two-thirds of Amazon deforestation results from conversion to pasture, according to the government.
Rondonia, on the border with Bolivia, is the most badly deforested state in the Brazilian Amazon. Other conservation units were also invaded by land-grabbers, with little objection from authorities. In 2010, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in his second term, reduced the Bom Futuro National Forest, adjacent to Jaci-Parana, by two-thirds. Land grabbers eventually gained title to what was supposed to be protected forest.
In 2019, far-right Jair Bolsonaro was elected president, as was his ally Marcos Rocha as governor of Rondonia, on campaigns promising to legalize illegal landholders. Land-grabbers plowed onto conservation lands.
The potential money to be made was irresistible. Privatization of Jaci-Parana would have meant adding swaths of public land to the real estate market. The 151,000 hectares (583 square miles) converted to grassland would be worth around $453 million, according to geographer Amanda Michalski, a researcher at Rondonia Federal University. And the new owners would have gotten that land for free.
In its statement, JBS declined to comment on its operations in Rondonia but said in the Amazon as a whole, 94% of purchases are of legal cattle, quoting an audit published in October by Brazil’s Federal Prosecution Service, which regularly scrutinizes cattle sales to counter deforestation caused by the meat trade.
Yet the same audit found that 12% of cattle purchased by JBS in Rondonia came from illegally deforested areas.
And those audits only examine direct purchases. They don’t track the vast trade in cattle laundering in Brazil, transferring cows from an illegal area to a legal farm before selling to slaughterhouses, deliberately muddying traceability.
In November, a report by Imazon called JBS the company most likely to purchase cattle from illegally deforested areas based on a variety of factors, including where slaughterhouses are located and their buying areas.
“Companies must boycott cattle areas at high risk for illegal activity and lack of enforcement,” Barreto, co-author of the study, said. “By purchasing cattle from these areas, companies endorse predatory and illegal behavior and strengthen the political power of these actors.”
The destruction of Jaci-Parana Reserve is a painful reminder of the ongoing battle to save the Amazon rainforest. The reserve, once lush rainforest, has been transformed into grassland by decades of misuse and exploitation. Land-grabbers, loggers, and cattle ranchers have disregarded the law and continued to exploit the area for their own gain. The Brazilian lawsuits against JBS and other slaughterhouses aim to hold these companies accountable for their involvement in the illegal cattle trade and the destruction of protected lands.
The evidence presented in the lawsuits is shocking, as it includes transfer documents that show cows being taken directly from deforested protected areas to the slaughterhouse. This practice, which is usually concealed, highlights the extent of the illegal cattle trade and the complicity of these companies. The lawsuits seek millions of dollars in damages for the environmental destruction caused by the companies’ actions.
Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest is a pressing issue, with the development pressure threatening not only the biodiversity of the region but also exacerbating climate change. The lawsuits against JBS and other slaughterhouses serve as a reminder of the need for stricter regulations and enforcement to protect the Amazon and hold those responsible accountable for their actions. The destruction of the Amazon rainforest has far-reaching consequences, and it is crucial that companies and governments take immediate action to prevent further harm.
