Meat as a Driver of Deforestation | October 2016 | 1

Unsustainable livestock productionand the production of soy to feedlivestock have an especiallymarked affect on climate changebecause they impact heavily onforests, which are cleared to createnew pastures and farmland. The

2016 State of the World’s Forestsclearly cites pasture for livestock asa leading driver of deforestation ina number of South Americancountries, and cites industrialagriculture as being responsiblefor 70% of deforestation in Latin

America. [3] Official national datain Bolivia, for example, supportsthis analysis: the country lost anarea of 8.6 million hectares offorest between 2000 and 2013,which is roughly equivalent to twoSwitzerlands. [4]

Industrial and other forms of unsustainable livestock production have very real impacts onforests, climate and the environment. They also have devastating consequences forcommunities, Indigenous Peoples, peasants and women. According to the United Nations Foodand Agriculture Organization (FAO), the global livestock sector contributes an estimated 14.5%of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions using the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange (IPCC) estimates, [1] as well as impacting water and biodiversity negatively. [2]

Meat

DeforestationForests, communities and Indigenous Peoples: victims

of the industrial livestock and feedstock industry

as a Driver of

Cattle grazing on a ranch in southern Brazil. Valerio Pillar/Flickr CC

Meat as a Driver of Deforestation | October 2016 | 1

Meat as a Driver of Deforestation | October 2016 | 2

State of the World’s Forests 2016, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),

http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5588e.pdf

Numerous testimonies fromcommunities, peasants andIndigenous Peoples impacted by theexpansion of industrial livestock andfeedstock production also documentdisplacement, loss of land,numerous health issues andcontamination of their territories. [5]

Large-scale, corporate agri-businesses continue to push outsmall-scale livestock keepers; and incountries like Brazil, largeconglomerates have gained controlof the market. In the case ofParaguay, through years of policies

favouring the expansion of agri-export business in the livestock andfeedstock production sector,Indigenous Peoples have beendisplaced and reports indicate thataround 20% of the population are inpoverty. [6]

Global demand for livestockproducts is expected to increase by70% by 2050. [7] Therefore it iscritical that urgent and concreteaction is taken by governments andthe United Nations and its agencies,including FAO, to promote policiesand practices to ensure that

industrial, intensive and other large-scale systems do not negativelyaffect other production systems,harm livelihoods or hinderthe progressive realisation of theright to adequate food.

The following are excerpts of casestudies in an upcoming publicationby the Global Forest Coalition, incollaboration with researchers andsocial movements in a number ofkey countries, on the impacts ofindustrial livestock production.

Meat as a Driver of Deforestation | October 2016 | 2

Meat as a Driver of Deforestation | October 2016 | 3

Every year between July and December, Bolivia is acountry in flames. Grasslands, bush land, shrubbery andforests are all on fire, and this is the main cause ofdeforestation in Bolivia. These fires are triggered mainlyby agricultural and livestock activities. This is known inBolivia as ‘chaqueo’, burning vegetation to make way forcultivation or pasture for livestock.

Research from CIFOR confirms that the contribution ofcattle ranching to deforestation has become the mostimportant driver of climate change in Bolivia. Between1992 and 2004 cattle ranching was responsible for27.4% of deforestation, but between 2000 and 2010 thisfigure leapt to 51.9%. This acceleration is still takingplace: preliminary data shows that the figure for 2005 to2010 has reached 60%. [8]

The population of Paraguay isincreasingly vulnerable when itcomes to food production, becausethe country’s capacity to producefood for local consumption is beingsystematically undermined, as itsterritories are progressively targetedfor the production of commoditiesfor export, such as beef, and soy foranimal feedstock. Agriculturalexporters are also setting theirsights on exports of other types ofmeat. The State itself is alsopromoting the production of "smalllivestock" for export purposes,which threatens to usurp even moreland and resources.

The intense pressure that thecommunities now suffer, is due tothe corporate interest in theproduction of goods to meet thedemand for export products, such asmeat and soybean forages andgrains. This phenomenon restrictsthe communities' ability to maintainthe traditional practices thatpromote the resilience of theecosystems they traditionallymanage.

Thus, it is necessary to change theway in which soils and productiveresources are being used inParaguay. This change necessarilyinvolves the recovery of the land andtraditional patterns of management,with a view to managing the landjudiciously for the benefit of thewhole population, distributingproductive resources fairly.Paraguay’s fertile soils can stillproduce surplus goods for export.

Bolivia: Burning ForestsPablo Solón and José Carlos Solón, Fundación Solón, Bolivia

Paraguay: Feeding the market,starving the people

Ines Franceschelli and Miguel Lovera

Cattle ranching in the Chaco, Paraguay. Miguel Lovera/CIC

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Meat as a Driver of Deforestation | October 2016 | 4

Brazil has had a so-called ‘nationalchampions’ policy for many years,which favoured large companies, whichwere expected to advance the country’sinterests as they prospered. This policydrove a process of mergers andacquisitions, not only in Brazil but alsoabroad. Big Brazilian conglomeratesthat benefited include JBS-Friboi,Marfrig and Brasil Foods (BRF).

In Mato Grosso do Sul, the state withthe fourth biggest cattle herd in thecountry, the concentration of the beefmarket keeps on increasing. Forexample, according to studies made byFAMASUL (Agricultural Federation ofMato Grosso do Sul), between 2012 and2015 the participation of JBS’slaughterhouses in the total slaughter

capacity of the state has grown from47% to 61%. Assocarnes, an associationof slaughterhouses and beefdistributors of Mato Grosso do Sul,points out that JBS rentedslaughterhouses with the sole purposeof closing them, to make sure the offerof bovine cattle is available to its ownplants. [9]

As a result of this concentration, smallcattle breeders with little structure andlimited access to the market, tend tobecome captive to big slaughterhousesthat pay them lower prices, grabbingtheir profits. The concentration andpossible formation of oligopolies mayalso imply an increase of consumerprices, at the national and global levels.

Cattle

ranch

ing

inB

razil.JaiMan

sson

/Flickr

CC

globalforestcoalition.org | @gfc123simone@globalforestcoalition.org

Brazil: Many losers in theBrazilian beef industry

Sergio Schlesinger, Consultant for FASE Brasil

[1] FAO (2013). Tackling Climate Change through Livestock, http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3437e/i3437e.pdf

[2] Ibid.

[3] FAO (2016). State of the World's Forests 2016, http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5588e.pdf

[4] Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Agua (2015). Memoria Técnica Mapa de deforestación de Bolivia 2010 – 2013. Bolivia

[5] Global Forest Coalition & Brighter Green (2015). Meat from a Landscape Under Threat: Testimonies of the Impacts of Unsustainable

Livestock and Soybean Production in Paraguay, http://globalforestcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/GFC-BG-Livestock-

Landscape-Threat-web.pdf

[6] IFAD Rural Poverty Portal, http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/country/statistics/tags/paraguay

[7] FAO (2016). Livestock and the environment, http://www.fao.org/livestock-environment/en/

[8] CIFOR (2014). The context of deforestation and degradation of forests in Bolivia: Drivers, Agents and Institutions, Occasional Paper 108,

http://www.cifor.org/publications/pdf_files/OccPapers/OP-108.pdf p11

[9] Revista DBO (2015). Frigoríficos fechados: crise ou ajuste? http://www.portaldbo.com.br/Revista-DBO/Destaques/Frigorificos-

fechados-crise-ou-ajuste/13526

Slaughter capacity of plants in Mato Grosso do Sul – 2012 and 2015