Chances are that the beef you – and the rest of the world – consume comes from a pasture that, one day, was part of the Amazon Forest. Cattle raising is the main driver of deforestation in the Amazon: Cattle pasture currently cover about 90% of the deforested lands, and more than 90% of the total deforestation is illegal. And at least 89 million of more than 214 million of beef cattle raised in Brazil are located in the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, Tocantins and Maranhão.
Consumers play an important role and can help stop deforestation in the largest tropical forest on the planet by demanding from supermarkets and slaughterhouses the guarantee that the beef they sell is not originated from deforested lands. However, in order to guarantee the origin of beef, the entire beef production chain must be monitored, starting from the ranches where the calf is born, following all the way it goes through, until the beef is served at our dining tables.
For that reason, Imazon (Amazon Institute of People and the Environment) and Mundo Que Queremos Institute, funded by NICFI (Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative) and iCS (Institute for Climate and Society),have developed a new public indicator for transparency and control of the beef production chain and marketing in Brazil: Radar Verde.
It is an indicator that will show which slaughterhouses and supermarkets have demonstrated better control and transparency over the production chain of the beef they sell. This will be a tool for consumers to choose where they want to purchase the beef they consume and for society as a whole to better understand the beef production chain.
