JACI-PARANA, Brazil (AP) — Meat processing giant
The lawsuits, filed
The lawsuits contain a type of evidence that is getting the attention of deforestation experts and veterans of
“In two decades fighting illegal cattle-raising in the Amazon, I had never encountered a transit permit with the name of a conservation unit on it,” said
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This article was produced as part of a collaboration between Brazilian news organization Agencia Publica and The Associated Press.
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Of the 17 lawsuits, three name JBS, along with farmers, who allegedly sold 227 cattle raised in Jaci-Parana. The suits seek some
JBS declined to answer questions from The Associated Press, saying it “has not been summoned by the court, which makes it impossible to conduct any analysis yet.”
Three smaller meatpacking companies are also accused of causing environmental harm by buying cattle from the reserve. Frigon, Distriboi and Tangara did not respond to questions.
Frigon has ties to influential people in
Both Frigon and the two JBS plants allegedly involved have exported meat to the
The lawsuits aim to put a price on the destruction of old-growth rainforest, a difficult task given that it is virtually irreplaceable except over decades. A court filing pegs damages in the reserve at some
“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 lawsuits say.
In one indication of the potential seriousness of the new lawsuits, a court officer trying to serve an eviction notice to one of the illegal farmers in the reserve said he was threatened with death.
Deforestation is a major concern in the Amazon rainforest, where many seek to profit from its vast resources through mining, timber harvesting, agriculture and more. Besides harming a critical biosphere, the development pressure also threatens a critical carbon sink for a planet that's warming dangerously from climate change. Two-thirds of Amazon deforestation results from conversion to pasture, according to the government.
The creation of Jaci-Parana Reserve and other state conservation areas was funded by the
Other conservation units were also invaded by land-grabbers, with little objection from authorities. Some Brazilian administrations even encouraged it. In 2010, President Luiz Inácio
In 2019, far-right Jair Bolsonaro was elected president, as was his ally
With the political promises, 778 land invaders were induced to come forward and register the property they were occupying as well as their cattle for health inspection.
“It reveals the contradiction between public agencies, with the animal health agency validating cattle that are illegally raised,” said
The potential money to be made was irresistible. Privatization of Jaci-Parana would have meant adding swaths of public land to the real estate market. The 151,000 hectares (583 square miles) converted to grassland would be worth around
In its statement, JBS declined to comment on its operations in
Yet the same audit found that 12% of cattle purchased by JBS in
And those audits only examine direct purchases. They don't track the vast trade in cattle laundering in
In November, a report by Imazon called JBS the company most likely to purchase cattle from illegally deforested areas based on a variety of factors, including where slaughterhouses are located and their buying areas.
“Companies must boycott cattle areas at high risk for illegal activity and lack of enforcement,” Barreto, co-author of the study, said. “By purchasing cattle from these areas, companies endorse predatory and illegal behavior and strengthen the political power of these actors.”
Last July, AP journalists visited Jaci-Parana and saw on the ground what satellite imagery detected from space: the only forested areas left were along two rivers. With almost 80% destroyed, it's the most ravaged conservation unit in the Brazilian Amazon.
Jaci-Parana is designated an extractive reserve, a type of protection in which forest communities are allowed to live their traditional ways without logging, protected from land-grabbing and cattle-ranching.
But the opposite happened. Dozens of families who once made their living by tapping rubber trees inside the reserve and harvesting
In September, two men carrying guns paid a visit to de Lima, claiming their boss had acquired the area. They gave him 24 hours to leave. He took it as a death threat and complied — the third time he had been forced out of the reserve.
Five days later, his neighbor, rubber tapper
They fled to Jaci-Parana village, where scores of families of expelled subsistence gatherers have sought shelter. The village has also been the home of
“There’s nothing left there,” she told the AP on the porch of her daughter's home. "No one talks about
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Valente reports for Agencia Publica. Maisonnave is the
AP journalist
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