This archive report was first published on 27 November 2019.
On November 27, 2019, a powerful petition, backed by 160,000 signatures from 53 countries, was delivered to the offices of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
"Illegal cattle farming is the main driver of Amazon deforestation," said Richard Pearhouse, Amnesty's head of environment, highlighting the alarming threat to both human rights and the planet's ecosystem.
Amnesty's report revealed that two-thirds of the Amazon deforested between 1988 and 2014 has been converted into grazing pasture, an area of nearly 500,000 square kilometers – roughly five times the size of Portugal.
Activists and tribal representatives unfurled a flag with a clear message: "Bolsonaro, protect the Amazon and the peoples of the forest."
Amnesty's report exposed the devastating impact of cattle farming in protected areas, with farmers and private speculators seizing land by cutting down and clearing trees, and then planting grass and introducing cattle.
As the world's largest cattle meat exporter, Brazil's environmental policy has come under intense scrutiny, particularly after a 29.5 percent increase in deforestation was recorded in the year leading up to July 2019.
The proliferation of wildfires in August sparked a wave of international criticism against Bolsonaro and the Brazilian government's environmental policy.
