Our appetite for beef is behind the destruction of Amazon rainforests

SCIENTISTS are warning that the world’s increasing appetite for beef is responsible for 80% of Amazon deforestation in Brazil.

- BY CHRIS RICHES

University of Manchester researchers and their peers in Sao Paulo concluded that cattle farming is more lucrative than many alternatives for smaller landowners.

These producers also miss out on financial incentives to take a more sustainable approach because of a lack of joined-up thinking from governments downwards.

The British scientists said: “In many cases, clearing forest actually increases land value, creating a cycle where deforestation leads to profit and to more deforestation.

“At the same time, environmental rules and sustainability initiatives often fail to fully reach the people making land-use decisions on the ground.