\u201cWe wanted to show not just that deforestation is a huge climate threat, because it destroys forests on which we rely for all the ecosystem services, but also the impact it has on iconic species and all types of biodiversity,\u201d said report coordinator Alexandria Reid, head of forests at Global Witness.<\/p>\n
To calculate the deforestation of jaguar habitat, the researchers overlaid historical data on jaguar habitat from the IUCN Red List with 2014-2023 land-use change data from MapBiomas, a multidisciplinary mapping initiative.<\/p>\n
Mato Grosso and Par\u00e1 are major farming states in Brazil, with Mato Grosso leading in both soy production and head of cattle. The two states together also account for around 60% of deforestation recorded since 1987 across the nine states that make up the Brazilian Amazon, according to MapBiomas data.<\/p>\n
Global Witness found that 89% of the 5 million hectares cleared between 2014 and 2023 was done without the requisite legal permits.<\/p>\n
A separate data set showed that agricultural land in jaguar territory expanded by 5 million hectares during this period. But it\u2019s not clear how much of this new farmland resulted directly from forest clearing, as the researchers didn\u2019t overlay the data sets, Reid said.<\/p>\n
A supply chain issue<\/h2>\n
The report links some of the jaguar habitat loss to JBS, the world\u2019s biggest meatpacker, which has been dogged by environmental scandals for years. In 2021, JBS pledged to eradicate illegal deforestation from its supply chain by 2025, but Global Witness says its findings show the company isn\u2019t sticking to its commitments.<\/p>\n Data suggest that between 2013 and 2023, a ranch in Mato Grosso identified as an indirect supplier of JBS was responsible for clearing 1,200 hectares (nearly 3,000 acres) of jaguar territory in the Meandros do Rio Aragua Environmental Protection Area. This is a conservation area of nearly 360,000 hectares (about 890,000 acres) straddling the border region between Mato Grosso, Tocantins and Goi\u00e1s states, what Global Witness calls a \u201cunique ecological haven for wild animals such as jaguars, deer, birds, turtles, and other species.\u201d<\/p>\n During that period, the ranch was fined multiple times for illegal deforestation.<\/p>\n Analyzing cattle transport records between 2018 and 2023, the report found that 75% of the farms on jaguar habitat identified as JBS suppliers were in violation of Brazil\u2019s Forest Code. The code requires rural landowners to preserve a portion of the land in its natural state, known as the legal reserve. In the Amazon, the legal reserve accounts for 80% of a property; in the Cerrado savanna biome, it ranges from 20-35%.<\/p>\n When asked for comment, JBS referred Mongabay to the response it gave Global Witness, in which it refuted the NGO\u2019s findings, saying that many of the farms identified are not in its supplier base and the data used are limited. JBS said it complies with Brazilian laws and policies and reiterated its commitment to eradicating illegal deforestation from its supply chain by 2025.<\/p>\n According to Tasso Azevedo, MapBiomas\u2019s founder and general coordinator, a comprehensive deforestation alert system launched by the platform in 2019 has improved the capacity of companies like JBS to remove illegal deforestation from their supply chain. MapBiomas Alerta compiles alerts from different deforestation tracking systems in Brazil and identifies all forest clearing across the country, even if with a slight delay.<\/p>\n \u201cThe tendency is for [illegal deforestation] to be wiped out,\u201d Azevedo told Mongabay in a video interview. \u201cThere\u2019s nowhere to hide now when it comes to the direct supply chain. The problem remains with indirect suppliers.\u201d<\/p>\n Reid and other environmentalists say they\u2019re worried by a rollback in commitments from both corporations and governments when it comes to ending deforestation.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, JBS\u2019s global chief sustainability officer, Jason Weller, dialed back the company\u2019s environmental commitments, calling its goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2040 an \u201caspiration\u201d rather than a promise. Meanwhile, an investigation published last month found that JBS is unlikely to meet its pledge of eradicating illegal deforestation from its extensive supply chain by the end of this year.<\/p>\n At the state level across Brazil, there have been recent efforts to unravel a moratorium adopted by industry two decades ago to not trade in soy grown on deforested Amazon land. In the Amazonian state of Rond\u00f4nia, authorities recently approved a law pardoning land grabbers who illegally farmed soy and raised cattle in a protected reserve.<\/p>\n The agribusiness presence at COP30 is expected to be significant, much like the oil and gas turned out for COP28 in Dubai in 2023. That\u2019s because agribusiness wields enormous economic and political clout in Brazil, in addition to being a major greenhouse gas emitter and deforester. In 2023, 28% of Brazil\u2019s GHG emissions came directly from agriculture and 46% from land-use change, which almost invariably means deforestation. And according to MapBiomas, 97% of native forest loss in the last six years was driven by agriculture.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce Brazil gets deforestation under control, agriculture will be the sector that emits the most, specifically cattle,\u201d said Karen Silverwood-Cope, climate director at the World Resources Institute (WRI) Brazil. \u201cThere is going to be an important discussion about action on the agriculture and livestock agenda [at COP30].\u201d<\/p>\n Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, a Brazil-based coalition of NGOs, called on agribusiness corporations to take their stated obligations more seriously. \u201cThey are preoccupied with the climate, which is good, but it would be much better if they delivered on their commitments,\u201d Astrini told Mongabay by phone.<\/p>\n \u201c[Agribusiness players] are going to face a lot of pressure at the conference,\u201d he added, especially when it comes to putting in place a cattle traceability system, considered a key tool to prevent cattle raised on deforested land don\u2019t enter the supply chain.<\/p>\n \u201cDeforestation is a solvable issue, but it\u2019s one where there is stalling, a lack of political will to actually meet the global agreement to end forest loss by 2030,\u201d said Global Witness\u2019s Reid, referring to the landmark pledge reached at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2021.<\/p>\n She said she hopes that at COP30 countries will put forward plans \u201cto actually deliver [on] their commitments when it comes to forest loss.\u201d<\/p>\nAn opportunity for action at COP30<\/h2>\n