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Brazil needs a
mandatory government program to track cattle for beef to curb deforestation,
the head of Brazil's JBS SA (JBSS3.SA), the world's largest meat company, said
on Thursday (Sept 21, 2023).
With cattle
ranching, selling timber, or clearing land to grow crops, the Amazon rainforest
is being deforested. Destruction of rainforests, which act as carbon sinks,
hampers global climate targets.
"The only
solution to this deforestation in Brazil is to have a national mandatory
traceability system,"
JBS CEO
Gilberto Tomazoni said in a webcast of a New York Times panel on climate
change.
"Then we
can track individual animals. We don't have a national program to find them
yet."
Brazil is the
world's largest beef exporter. The country's beef industry blames criminals for
much of the deforestation.
JBS has said
that it tracks its direct cattle suppliers with "satellite geo
monitoring" and its indirect suppliers with blockchain technology to
prevent deforestation in its supply chain.
However, environmentalists oppose the company's plans to list shares in New York because
of concerns about its impact on deforestation, climate change, and other issues.
Activist group
Global Witness said that for every $1,000 invested in JBS since 2010, there has
been around one soccer field of forest destruction in Brazil linked to its
supply chain.
JBS has said
that its listing proposal would "enhance corporate governance and
transparency through adherence to SEC standards." As of January 2026, only
producers registered in its blockchain tool will be able to continue doing
business with JBS, it said.
Last year, an
audit by Brazilian prosecutors found nearly 17% of the cattle bought by JBS in
Para state in the Amazon rainforest from July 2019 to June 2020 allegedly came
from ranches with "irregularities" like illegal deforestation. JBS
said at the time that issues that led to the purchases had been fixed.
Source:
Online/GFMM
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