Amazon deforestation, beef and poverty: The lesser known story

Beef sustainability investment would be well spent addressing that in Brazil, say experts in the field of food supply systems and the environment.

Taciano Custodio, head of sustainability with big international agribusiness lender Rabobank in Brazil, said environmental laws in his country aimed at protecting the Amazon were very strong.

They call for 80 per cent mandatory protection of native vegetation on privately-owned land, he said.

The vast majority - well over 90pc - of forest clearing in the Amazon was happening illegally, Mr Custodio said.

What has been overlooked in the Amazon discussion is the fact Brazil is a developing economy, with levels of poverty well above global averages.

Last year, 62.9 million Brazilians or 29.6pc of the country's population, had a monthly per capita income of just R$497 (or $138 Australian dollars), according to the country's national statistics agency, IBGE.

The pandemic saw 9.6m have their income drop to below poverty levels in the two years up until the end of 2021, IBGE says.

"There are 6.5m farms in Brazil and the average revenue is two minimum wages per month," Mr Custodio said.

"Poverty is prevailing in the overall scenario of Brazil.

"That means a lack of infrastructure, of roads and public health."

The capacity to enforce environmental laws had to be viewed in that context, he said.

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The Amazon is a massive 6.7 million square kilometres, with nearly 60pc of it in Brazil. It covers half of Brazil.

The World Wildlife Fund says 17pc of the forest has been lost in the past 50 years, mostly due to forest conversion for cattle ranching.

"So there is actually 82pc of Brazil's Amazon biome with tropical rainforest preserved," Mr Custodio said.

That is not to say the losses are not significant, and must be tackled, he agreed.

WWF says Amazon rainforest is home to 10pc of all the wildlife species we know about - and probably a lot that we don't know yet.

It also stores around 76 billion tonnes of carbon. The trees in the Amazon release 20b tonnes of water into the atmosphere per day, playing a critical role in global and regional carbon and water cycles, WWF says.

However, the point that Brazilian beef producers - maligned globally for wiping out the Amazon - have made big strides in sustainability was not widely known, Mr Custodio said.

"There is very good sustainability momentum from enhancing productivity rates, especially with the exporter producers," he said.

"There are big gains being made in converting degraded pasture land into integrated systems, which means soy and corn are produced alongside beef.

"Although it's not in the media, Brazilian producers are very active contributors to environmental protection.

"Brazil's beef industry has to deal with the image around deforestation. That is a big challenge.

"There is opportunity for (foreign) investment supporting more sustainable land occupation because the deforestation comes down to the lack of enforcement capacity within a developing economy."