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Revealed: fires three times more common in Amazon beef farming zones

Andrew Wasley
7 min readDec 10, 2019

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Forest fires have been found to be more common within the buying zones of beef companies. Picture: Jim Wickens/Ecostorm

Reporting team: Alexandra Heal, Andrew Wasley, Sam Cutler and André Campos

Fires were three times more common in beef-producing zones than in the rest of the Amazon this summer, according to a new analysis.

The findings once again draw attention to the links between Brazil’s powerful beef industry and the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, just as the world debates climate change at COP25.

Responding to the work by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ), MEPs called on the EU to block beef which may be linked to deforestation. “It is absolutely urgent that the EU puts in place a legal duty on European companies to ensure that their supply chains are free of deforestation,” said Heidi Hautala, a Finnish MEP.

Graphic showing the location of the fires

Two years ago Brazilian NGO Imazon collected data to estimate the beef buying zones throughout the Amazon. They identified 128 slaughterhouses, and set about establishing the areas from which these plants could feasibly buy their cattle for processing. Through phone interviews with staff at the abattoirs, or by taking averages based on methods at other meat plants, the research team gathered information on the maximum distances from which each would likely…

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Andrew Wasley
Andrew Wasley

Written by Andrew Wasley

Award-winning investigative journalist specialising in food and environment issues. Full coverage see: www.andrewwasley.com

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