Why is Brazil Burning? The Meat Industry Exposed
Animal Equality’s investigators traveled to the state of Mato Grosso to monitor the record burning in the Pantanal and Cerrado regions. Once again, they discovered that the deforestation and fires in these regions are consequences of Brazil’s ever-expanding meat economy.
Help us stop this industry from burning our planet’s forests: https://animalequality.org/action/brazil-deforestation
Interviews with firefighters and local activists trying to stop the fires revealed that ranchers are illegally setting fires to clear land to raise cows for meat and planting soy (most of which feeds farmed animals).
The culprits of these illegal fires, destroying the planet, all too often go unpunished. And fueling the flames is the global demand for meat driving them to clear more and more land.
As the largest exporter of beef in the world, the meat coming from Brazil’s deforested land is making its way to dinner tables in every country, including the United States.
These unregulated fires are causing mass destruction of our planet and the suffering of millions of animals, which is why we are asking the Brazilian Congress to take specific actions to hold the meat industry accountable for its crimes.
Join us in our demand. Sign the petition and share: https://animalequality.org/action/brazil-deforestation
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Transcript (English — en)
The preservation of Brazil's rich ecosystems
has been a priority for the entire planet.
Yet these fragile communities
are under constant attack
from man-made fires and deforestation.
Animal Equality reveals why these
crucially important regions are burning.
Brazil is the largest producer
of meat from cows and also soy,
the majority of which is used to
feed chickens, pigs, fish
and other animals in
factory farms around the world.
The Pantanal are the largest
tropical wetlands in the world.
In 2020, 29% of the Pantanal
wetlands were burned,
an area equivalent to more than
6 million football fields.
Factory farming is responsible for more than
80% of deforestation in Brazil.
50% of the Cerrado savannas
have been deforested,
an area equivalent to the size of England,
Italy, Spain and Portugal, combined.
Brazil is the world’s largest
exporter of meat from cows,
exporting to 154 countries.
In 2020 alone, more than 44 million cows were
slaughtered in Brazil and 20% of their flesh was exported
Alarming, 99% of this
deforestation is occurring illegally.
In Brazil, suppliers are not tracking
and monitoring the movement of
animals throughout their
entire supply chain.
The current system
only verifies the last supplier
before an animal
reaches the slaughterhouse,
failing to oversee animals'
movements through
non compliant farms
who illegally deforest.
Without an effective tracking system,
animals from illegally deforested areas
can be sent directly to
unlicensed slaughterhouses.
Where the cruelest of practices occur.
It’s a vicious cycle that begins with
Brazil’s ever expanding meat economy.
To keep up, fires are set,
forests are destroyed,
and cows are bred to
suffer and be slaughtered.
And with every increase in profit
farm owners make from these animals,
the higher their incentive becomes
to clear more and more land.
Pantanal and The Cerrado are
in more danger than ever before.
The ever increasing production of
meat and soy for animal feed is
the single biggest cause of the destruction
of Brazilian forests and wetlands.