“JBS, other Brazil meatpackers linked to devastating Pantanal fires, Greenpeace says”, 17 March 2021

...In a new report, , Greenpeace has linked major Brazilian meat processors JBS, Marfrig and Minerva to cattle ranchers that satellite data indicate were responsible for setting fires in Brazil’s Pantanal region last year...According to Greenpeace, some of the fires may have originated on ranches that supply cattle to slaughterhouses operated by the meatpacking giants...Pantanal saw nearly 4.5 million hectares (11 million acres) — an area the size of Denmark — go up in flames, displacing Indigenous communities and tearing through Pantanal Matogrossense National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Home to some of Brazil’s most concentrated wildlife populations, including the second-largest group of jaguars in the country, the Pantanal plays an important role in regulating water flows in the region and stores an immense amount of carbon underground in its peat soils...As much as 90% of the Pantanal is claimed by private landowners, mostly for cattle ranching...According to Greenpeace’s research, 15 current or recent suppliers of JBS, Marfrig and Minerva were among those who illegally set fires on their Pantanal ranches last year...JBS said Greenpeace’s research was based on a “superficial analysis” that “turned out to be mistaken.” The purchases of cattle linking it to the suppliers named in the report had occurred prior to the 2020 fires, the company said, adding that it “defies logic” to imply it was culpable in last year’s disaster. JBS also questioned the source of Greenpeace’s data showing that cattle it bought had originated in burned properties...