Brazilian law forbids commercial cattle inside a protected area, yet w210,000 head are being grazed inside Jaci-Parana, with almost 80% of its forest destroyed.
from thefreeonline https://wp.me/pIJl9-DUh on Sep 11, 2024 by Brett Wilkins at Common Dreams *on Telegram: t.me/thefreeonline
The decision by Judge Inês Moreira da Costa in Rondônia—the most severely deforested state in the Brazilian Amazon—came in response to a flurry of lawsuits filed by green groups seeking millions of dollars in damages from defendants including Distriboi and Frigon, two meat processing firms accused of trading cattle in the Jaci-Parana protected zone.
“The invaders and their main business partners—loggers and meatpacking companies—make the profits their own while passing on to society the costs of environmental damage,” notes one of numerous lawsuits.
We hope the court decision will deter rampant expansion of illegal Amazon destruction for cattle to supply insatiable US demand
In the Amazon rainforest near Novo Progresso, Pará state, Brazil (Photo: Joao Laet/AFP)
“When a slaughterhouse, whether by negligence or intent, buys and resells products from invaded and illegally deforested reserves, it is clear that it is directly benefiting from these illegal activities,” the plaintiffs’ complaint states.
“In such cases, there is an undeniable connection between the company’s actions and the environmental damage caused by the illegal exploitation.”
The slaughterhouses and ranchers are but two of numerous parties being sued, including other ranchers and JBS, the Brazilian meat giant that bills itself as the world’s largest protein producer.
According toThe Associated Press—whose reporting on the cattle trading documents prompted the lawsuits:
Brazilian law forbids commercial cattle inside a protected area, yet some 210,000 head are being grazed inside Jaci-Parana, according to the state animal division. With almost 80% of its forest destroyed, it ranks as the most ravaged conservation unit in the Brazilian Amazon. A court filing pegs damages in the reserve at some $1 billion.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuits are seeking to put a price on the destruction of old-growth rainforest, asserting that “the invaders and their main business partners—loggers and meatpacking companies—make the profits their own while passing on to society the costs of environmental damage.”
The Amazon rainforest is one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems and is a crucial carbon sink, meaning it absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The world lost around 3.7 million hectares of primary tropical forests last year—a rate of approximately 10 soccer fields per minute, according to data from the University of Maryland’s Global Land Analysis and Discover laboratory.
While this marked a 9% reduction in deforestation compared with 2022, the overall deforestation rate is roughly the same as in 2019 and 2021. Felling trees released 2.4 metric gigatons of climate pollution into the atmosphere in 2023, or almost half of all annual U.S. emissions from burning fossil fuels.
In Brazil, the government of leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has taken steps to combat deforestation, resulting in a more than one-third reduction in forest loss.
But Lula and supports do not have a majority and depend on balancing a coalition against the powerful Land Lobby and Bolsonaro movement. The entrenched far right oligarchy still owns most land and much industry and agitates for a US backed neo liberal coup, forcing concessions by progressive forces.
Progress in reversing the rampant forest destruction wrought by the previous far-right administration of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro—who was nicknamed “Captain Chainsaw”—were partially offset by a 43% spike in deforestation in the ecologically neglected Cerrado region last year.
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by Brett Wilkins a staff writer for Common Dreams.
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Indigenous Rights Under Siege: Brazil’s New Battle for the Amazon and Cultural Survival
Despite a Supreme Court victory, new legislative and judicial attacks threaten the future of Indigenous lands and environmental protection
July 16, 2024 | Paula Vargas and Ana Carolina Alfinito | Eye on the Amazon
The struggle for Indigenous rights in Brazil has reached a critical juncture as orchestrated attacks on their territorial claims intensify. Despite the Brazilian Supreme Court’s landmark decision in late 2023 declaring the Marco Temporal (“Time Limit”) legal thesis unconstitutional, anti-Indigenous factions, fueled by agribusiness and industrial mining interests, continue to push it forward.
These efforts, including a recent proposed amendment to the Constitution, threaten to undermine Indigenous land rights and accelerate environmental destruction in the Amazon. This growing threat not only endangers the cultural and physical existence of Indigenous peoples but also poses severe risks to the ecological stability of the Amazon rainforest, a vital biome for global climate regulation.
The Supreme Court’s ruling declaring Marco Temporal unconstitutional was the result of over a decade of Indigenous struggle and marked a significant victory for the movement.
However, in recent months, anti-Indigenous factions, led by agribusiness and mining interests, have launched new offensives against Indigenous rights: one from the Senate, and another through the Supreme Court, which was formerly a critical ally in defense of democracy and Indigenous rights during the worst periods of the Bolsonaro administration.……
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Indigenous Rights Under Siege: Brazil’s New Battle for the Amazon and Cultural Survival
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