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The main reason for the logging of the Amazon rainforest is the expansion of the grazing lands used for the country’s meat production. Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of beef and thousands of ranchers are involved in the devastation to create larger pastures.
Since the military and climate denier Jair Bolsonaro assumed the presidency two years ago, the center of the devastation has moved to an area around the city of Humaitá, with 54,000 inhabitants, in the state of Amazonas. The reason is that Bolsonaro has decided that the BR-319 highway, which runs through the city, will be paved. This makes it easier to transport livestock in the region.
An area burned and where cattle ranchers devastated the forest to obtain pastures near the town of Canutama which is located about 100 kilometers from Humaitá.
Photo: Andre Penner
– The paving of this road is a key factor behind the devastation in the Amazon. It has started more illegal activities, says prosecutor Rafael Rocha.
Last year started examine the Frigorífico Amazonas slaughterhouse that was the first to open in the city of Humaitá. By tracking which ranches supplied cattle to the slaughterhouse, he was able to establish with the help of GPS technology that 4,323 head of cattle, which had been sold to the slaughterhouse, were raised on non-legalized land. By estimating that each kilo of meat was worth SEK 80 on the market, the prosecutor set the fine at SEK 70 million.
– By restricting the finances of the slaughterhouse, we hope to curb the demand for cattle of illegal origin, says Rafael Rocha.
Since Bolsonaro took office, the devastation of the world’s largest rainforest has intensified. The latest satellite images from the Brazilian space research institute Inpe show that 11,088 square kilometers, an area as large as Skåne, was devastated between August 2019 and July 2020.
Read more: Big Brazilian companies pressure Bolsonaro: he wants to stop the devastation of the rainforest
That’s an increase almost 10 percent from last year and the largest proportion of forest that has been cut down since 2008. What makes the cutting easier is that Bolsonaro has an environment minister who has allied with cattle farms. The Environment Minister does not prefer to believe in climate change and has made it difficult for the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency to work to control the devastation.
Oxen on the way to the slaughterhouse in Santarém in the Amazon.
Photo: Lotta Härdelin
The disarmament of the Amazonian defense has led the Prosecutor’s Office, still independent from the government, to intensify its work. Last year, the agency’s central office in Manaus listed ten slaughterhouses in the jungle and forced them to sign a document not to buy cattle that grazed on devastated lands.
The only slaughterhouse The one who did not sign the list was the slaughterhouse in the city of Humaitá. What also caught the attention of prosecutors is that the slaughterhouse received a 118 million SEK tax credit from the state government for creating 120 jobs in the Amazon.
– Giving tax breaks to a slaughterhouse that drives devastation, we see it as regrettable. This relationship should be investigated further, Rafael Rocha tells DN.
The case is expected to go to court next year. If the judge rules according to the wishes of the prosecutors, the case may become a precedent for what awaits the next slaughterhouse that opens in the Amazon.
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