Greenpeace and JBS resume commitment to end Amazon deforestation

Sao Paulo – In a renewed effort to eliminate deforestation from the cattle industry’s chain of supply, Greenpeace Brazil and JBS arriving at a new stage in the process, announced today the restart of dialogue on the implementation of the Cattle Agreement signed by the company in 2009.

Three years ago, JBS and other slaughterhouses signed a public agreement whereby they committed to no longer accept suppliers who deforested their properties after October 2009 within the Amazon Biome. Farms convicted of using labour akin to slavery, located within indigenous lands or officially protected areas would also be excluded from their supply chain.

In the first semester of this year, Greenpeace International published a report alleging there were flaws in JBS’s systems of control. In response to the allegations published in the report, JBS initiated a lawsuit against Greenpeace Brazil.

As part of a return to a dialogue about the Cattle Agreement, JBS recently presented a public and independent audit – whose results are available on its website – and withdrew the legal action launched against Greenpeace Brazil.

The company also established a new work plan that reaffirms the 2009 Cattle Agreement objectives, outlining methodology, dates and an action plan for the completion of the commitment, including the publication of annual audits. The JBS work plan is available at www.jbs.com.br/JBS/AmazonCommitment.aspx

“With this new chapter of the public commitment by JBS, we reinforce our objective of conciliating production and forest protection”, says José Augusto de Carvalho Júnior, president of JBS for Mercosul.

“Customers and citizens from all over the world don’t accept products linked to deforestation. A zero deforestation policy is possible, and this is a task in which the productive sector, governments and consumers are fundamental”, says Marcelo Furtado, executive director of Greenpeace Brazil.