In an unprecedented move that it dubbed “Operation Cold Beef,” the enforcement arm of Brazil’s Environment Ministry shuttered 15 slaughterhouses in March for buying cattle raised on illegally cleared Amazon land and fined them R$264.2 million (US$84.5 million). The crackdown by the Institute of the Environment and Natural Resources (Ibama) culminated an investigation in which the agency determined that during 2013-16, the 15 slaughterhouses paid Amazon ranchers R$130 million (US$42 million) for 58,879 head of cattle raised on illegally deforested acreage. “The vigorous [action] was important because it was the first of its kind that we have conducted against slaughterhouses and because raising and buying cattle in illegally cleared areas of the Brazilian Amazon is a strong driver of deforestation,” Ibama... [Log in to read more]