Extensive Production Practices and Incomplete Implementation Hinder Brazil’s Zero-Deforestation Cattle Agreements in Pará

Abstract

Global attention to the role of cattle production in Amazon deforestation led to the development of new public and private-sector supply chain policies designed to control deforestation in Brazil. These zero-deforestation Cattle Agreements (hereafter, CA) are between meatpacking companies and Greenpeace and other nongovernmental organizations, as well as with Brazil’s public prosecutors. However, after over a decade of concerted efforts to reduce deforestation linked to the cattle sector, the problem persists. Here, we use field surveys of ranchers, slaughterhouse managers, and key industry personnel to characterize cattle supply chain actors in southeastern Pará and their responses to the CA. We show that loopholes weaken the CA and enable ranchers to evade full compliance, and we highlight strategies and challenges for ranchers seeking to intensify production. We conclude by discussing how the findings presented in this study suggest that ongoing efforts to reduce Amazon deforestation may require both support for improved efficiency in the cattle sector and the tightening of several loopholes currently utilized by ranchers to avoid detection of ongoing deforestation.

The Role of High-Volume Ranches as Cattle Suppliers: Supply Chain Connections and Cattle Production in Mato Grosso

“…More than half of high-volume suppliers sold cattle directly to both SIF and non-SIF slaughterhouses as well as to other properties. Thus, high-volume suppliers, and many other types of properties, are well-positioned to easily shift their role in the supply chain to avoid monitoring under the CAs given the established cattle laundering strategies adopted by ranchers to overcome restrictions imposed by slaughterhouses [13,15,17]. Indeed, less than half (41%) of high-volume suppliers in MT sold exclusively to CA slaughterhouses, which suggests that without additional efforts to expand the CAs to include both additional plants and more links in the supply chain, these high-volume suppliers are likely to continue to funnel large amounts of deforestation into Brazil's cattle supply chain.…”

“…However, the relationships between suppliers and slaughterhouses seem to be rather loose: most properties supplied to SIF plants in a single year out of six years. Cattle ranchers are also very diverse and versatile in their strategies of land use and trade; directly supplying to SIF slaughterhouses is just one of several trading possibilities available to these ranchers [17,25]. Thus, slaughterhouses may need new incentives to influence high volume suppliers to reduce deforestation on their own properties or to consider avoiding purchases from other properties with deforestation.…”

“…The CAs led to some progress in terms of improving governance in the supply chain: properties that sold directly to slaughterhouses rapidly registered their property boundaries and the portion of them with deforestation declined significantly. However, deforestation has continued in the cattle supply chain due to ample opportunities for leakage and laundering [16,17]. Given the dominant role of ranching in driving Amazon deforestation, addressing the limitations of the CAs is critical as deforestation rates begin to rise again: more than doubling from the lowest recorded rate of 451.7 thousand hectares in 2012 to 1.1 million hectares in 2021 [17].…”

“…However, deforestation has continued in the cattle supply chain due to ample opportunities for leakage and laundering [16,17]. Given the dominant role of ranching in driving Amazon deforestation, addressing the limitations of the CAs is critical as deforestation rates begin to rise again: more than doubling from the lowest recorded rate of 451.7 thousand hectares in 2012 to 1.1 million hectares in 2021 [17].…”

Future public policy guidelines for the sustainable development of Guaviare, Colombia for the year 2035

“…Policymakers can replicate the methodology used in this study in other Latin American regions that share similarities. For instance, in Central America (Sánchez, 2020), the presence of criminal groups in Mexico (Ornelas, 2018) and deforestation in the Amazonian rainforest due to extensive livestock farming in Brazil (Pereira et al , 2020) so that the population has a stake in the construction of a collective vision of the future of their territories and are the basis of public policies.…”