Brazilian judge orders slaughterhouses and ranchers to pay for harming the Amazon

Sep 7, 2024

By Brett Wilkins

A Brazilian judge on Thursday ordered two slaughterhouses and three ranchers to pay $764,000 in combined penalties for trading cattle raised in a protected area of the Amazon rainforest.

A fire burns behind cattle grazing in the Amazon rainforest near Novo Progresso, Pará state, Brazil, in 2019.

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.

“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.

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