WHY IS BRAZIL BURNING?

Factory farming is responsible for more than 80% of deforestation in Brazil, with the meat industry causing the increasing number of fires in the Pantanal. As the largest tropical wetlands in the world, 29% of its vegetation was burned in 2020–an area equivalent to more than 6 million football fields.

The Cerrado is another vital ecosystem that is being destroyed by Brazilian agribusiness. It has lost around 50% of its vegetation (an area twice the size of California) mostly due to illegal land-clearing for the production of soy, much of which is exported to feed farmed animals around the world.

2020 saw record-breaking fires in Brazil’s most vital habitats. In the same year, the meat industry’s largest international suppliers, like JBS, were accused of selling cow's meat that had been produced in deforested areas of Brazil.

Brazil is one of the largest exporters of meat from cows, pigs, and chickens, however the country’s laws are insufficient to protect these animals from abusive practices.

More than 6.8 billion land animals are killed in Brazil each year, and production is rising. While the number of animals raised and killed annually continues to increase, there remains no comprehensive monitoring system to ensure minimum conditions of animal welfare are met.

Poor enforcement of existing animal welfare laws means millions of animals end up in illegal slaughterhouses where they are killed using crude and painful methods without any regulatory oversight.