| name: | Sue Branford |
| section: | Environment |
| for: | The Defence |
| experience: | Brazil specialist |
summary:
...........in the early period of McDonalds operation, from 1979 to 1982, the meat-packing company Sadia (for which Mr Morganti was then working) was supplying beef to McDonalds and that some of the beef was coming from Cuiaba. He does not supply the names of the ranches that were supplying Sadia with cattle in Cuiaba, but, given the scale of the tropical forest devastation that was occurring in the state of Mato Grosso at the time, it seems to me, from my personal knowledge of the region, extremely likely that some of the cattle came from ranches created on recently-cleared areas of tropical forest.
Though McDonalds has not been at the forefront of this destruction, it seems to me that it cannot dissociate itself from all the harm that has been done. It seems to me clear that McDonalds must still today be buying beef from ranches on land until recently occupied by Guarani and Kadiweu Indians and, at least until 1982, to have bought beef from ranches created on recently-cleared tropical forest.
cv:
I am a Brazil specialist, currently working for the BBC World Service. I have spent long periods in Brazil (1971-79, 1985-86 and 1992-93), working for the Financial Times, The Economist, The Times, the Guardian and the BBC. I have published three books, including one on the Amazon (The Last Frontier - Fighting over Lami in the Amazon, Zed Books, 1985), which I wrote jointly with Oriel Glock (now deceased).
Full cv:
(not available for this witness)
full statement:
One of the areas of tropical forest that suffered greatest devastation was Acre, in the north-west of Brazil. When we first visited the region in 1971, most of the state was primary tropical forest, occupied only by Indians. Indeed, three-quarters of the land was classified by the government as "terra devoluta", that is, unoccupied public land. But a road link was created, for the first time, with the rest of Brazil. The state government undertook a big advertising campaign in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to attract cattle companies. By 1975, after just four years, four-fifths of Acre's land belonged to companies from the south. These companies carried out horrifying environmental damage, cutting down primary tropical forest to plant pasture, and were involved in violent land conflicts with peasant families and Indians. One of the most active companies was the meat-packing group, Bordon. We, personally, saw forest being cut down by Bordon employees and gathered evidence from peasant families that they had been forcibly evicted from their plots by Bordon employees.
Another region that was being devastated at the time lay to the north of Culaba, the capital of Mato Grosso. After the construction of the BR-I 63 (the highway linking Santarem, a port on the Amazon river, with Cuiaba) in the early 1970s, numerous new ranches were opened beside this road. The incentives were tax-breaks from the federal government and the new transport link that meant that the ranches could now take their cattle to meat packing plants in Cuiaba.
Mr Jose Roberto Morganti, the general manager of Braslo Produtos de Came Ltda, says in his statement (para. 5) that Braslo has been - and still is - supplied beef by Bordon at Campo Grande. As I stated earlier, I know through personal experience that Bordon both cleared tropical forest and was involved in land conflicts in Acre. Cattle have on occasions been brought down by truck from Acre to fatten near Campo Grande. It seems to me possible, perhaps even likely, that beef supplied by Bordon to Braslo came on some occasions from Acre.
Mr Morganti says in his statement (para. 6) that in the early period of McDonalds operation, from 1979 to 1982, the meat-packing company Sadia (for which Mr Morganti was then working) was supplying beef to McDonalds and that some of the beef was coming from Cuiaba. He does not supply the names of the ranches that were supplying Sadia with cattle in Cuiaba, but, given the scale of the tropical forest devastation that was occurring in the state of Mato Grosso at the time, it seems to me, from my personal knowledge of the region, extremely likely that some of the cattle came from ranches created on recently-cleared areas of tropical forest.
Mr Morganti discusses in his statement (para. 9) the history of the land currently being used to raise cattle for Braslo. He says: "Before that time (that is, 1965), it is my understanding that the western parts of those areas (in Goias and Mato Grosso do Sul) were virgin land. I am as certain as I can be that none of those areas was occupied by small farmers who were subsequently displaced by cattle-ranching." This statement is wrong. Mato Grosso do Sul was not virgin land when the cattle-rearers arrived; it has been occupied for centuries by Guarani and Kadiweu Indians. For the last 30 years (and still today), there has been serious conflicts in this region, as the Indians struggle to keep their lands. Indians have been killed in these conflicts. Once again, we do not have the names of the ranches where Braslo is buying cattle, but the conflicts have been so widespread that they have involved, at some tie or other, almost all the ranches in this state. Braslo says that it continues to buy cattle from this region today. It is, in my view, impossible for Braslo to be buying cattle in this region without making purchases from ranches on land previously occupied by Indians.
In Goias, the situation is somewhat different. Until 1989, Goias included the recently formed state of Tocantins. In the 1970s and 1980s, the north of the state of Goias - known as the "parrot's beak" because of its shape - was the area with the most violent conflicts in Brazil. Hundreds of peasant families were violently evicted from their land and there were frequent deaths. I travelled widely in this region, and spoke to some of the evicted families. This region also had large areas of tropical forest that were cleared to pave the way for cattle ranches. The south of Goias has also experienced land conflict, but on a smaller scale. Braslo says that it is buying beef from a meat-packing station in Goiania, the capital of Goias. Once again, we do not have the list of ranches supplying the meat plant, but it seems to me likely that some of these ranches have been involved in land conflicts and are occupying land that was once tropical forest.
Without knowing Brazil, it is impossible to envisage the destructive impact of cattle rearing on the environment and the people of Brazil. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, huge areas of tropical forest were cleared each year to make way for cattle-rearing. The pace of destruction has eased in recent years, partly because of the protests of green activists, in Brazil and abroad, and partly because the ranches have not brought the huge profits that were originally anticipated. The soil beneath the luxuriant tropical forest has proved to be largely infertile. Without the forest's protective canopy, nutrients have leached out of the soil, leaving the ranches with low levels of productivity. At the same time, tens of thousands of peasant families have been evicted from their plots, and indigenous groups driven back deeper into the forest.
Though McDonalds has not been at the forefront of this destruction, it seems to me that it cannot dissociate itself from all the harm that has been done. It seems to me clear that McDonalds must still today be buying beef from ranches on land until recently occupied by Guarani and Kadiweu Indians and, at least until 1982, to have bought beef from ranches created on recently-cleared tropical forest.
| date signed: | Not dated |
| status: | ? |
exhibits: Not applicable/ available
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