Sao Paulo, Brazil – With little fanfare and practically without advertising, legislators in the Brazilian state of Rondonia They have approved legislation in favor of hundreds of farmers who had illegally converted strips of Amazon jungle in Pasto land.
The new legislation, which was approved on April 28 and went into effect immediate Jaci-Parana Conservation area, which the new law effectively dissolves.
“All Fines, violation warnings and other administrative sanctions linked to the occupation and use of the area are automatically annulled and have no legal or financial consequences, ”said the law.
It is likely that one of the beneficiaries of the amnesty be JBS SA, the largest meat pilot in the world, who is ready to begin Sale of shares In the New York Stock Exchange in June. According to an audit of 2023 by the Federal Service of the Prosecutor’s Office of Brazil, 12% of the cattle bought by JBS in Rondonia came from illegally deforesting areas.
In exchange for amnesty, farmers must join the Rondonian Environmental Regularization Program, which requires them to stop deforestation and send a plan to reinforce part of the area. The law does not give them public land, but allows it to be used under concession for 30 years. They will also be allowed to sell cattle, despite a law that prohibits commercial cattle in the protected areas of Brazil. Around 216,000 Pasto heads there, according to the State Animal Division.
“The law is an affront. If it is not declared unconstitutional, it will represent one of the greatest threats for the protection of all the conservation areas facing land invasions,” said Wellington Lamburgini, a coordinator of the local chapter of the Pastoral Land Commission, a non -profit purposes affiliated with the Catholic Church. “Send the message that this crime is tolerated and will eventually be legalized.”
The state legislator Luís do Hospital, who sponsored the bill, Alex Redano, president of the State Parliament, and JBS declined to comment.
The expectation that the illegally used land has been sanctioned has been the main driver of deforestation in the Amazon.
The clear cracks of the earth in the hope that it will eventually be legalized due to lax land laws or government amnesties. In most cases, the forest is eliminated so that pastures show economic activity.
In recent years, the Office of the Attorney General of Rondonia, the State Prosecutor’s Office and the Environmental Agency have fined and processed hundreds of farmers and four slaughterhouses for causing damage within the Jaci-Parana Conservation Area, where the raising of large-scale cattle is prohibited.
Fines and pending legal agreements total $ 280 million: a fraction of the more than $ 1 billion in damages Estimated by Rondonia state. Many of the 778 identified land invaders have never been prosecuted. While several have been convicted, most have escaped punishment due to legal lagoons.
The state prosecutor’s office told Associated Press that he is considering appealing the new law.
The Office of the Attorney General declined to comment.
In December 2023, the State Prosecutor JBS demanded and three other slaughterhouses to buy raised cattle in Jaci-Parana. Months later, two of the slaughterhouses, distributors and frigon were ordered, along with three farmers, To pay $ 764,000 for causing environmental damage. No company responded to requests for comments.
JBS faces three demands waiting for trial. In one of them, the company argued that it has an environmental monitoring program that has blocked more than 20,000 farms alone in Rondonia, according to the defense of the company included in judicial documents. It also establishes that the demand is based on buying only 73 head of cattle, which represents 0.0006% of the company’s purchases in the state.
According to the company, the transaction, which took place 12 years ago, involved the fraud of the farmer, since it used geographical coordinates outside the Jaci-Parana reserve so that the sale seems legal. Since then, the producer has been blocked from other sales.
“The mere existence of this demand, even if it is not successful, could cause immeasurable damage to the JB and, by extension, to the economy of Brazil, to which the company contributes significantly, which represents approximately 2.1% of the national GDP,” said the company in judicial archives.
In a statement to AP, the Meatpcker said that as of January 1, 2026, it will only buy cattle of producers registered in its transparent cattle platform, allowing the ranchers to record information about their own suppliers, which will also be subject to the JBS socio -environmental compliance criteria.
Last month, the US Stock Exchange and Securities Commission approved the JB list in the New York Stock Exchange despite the strong opposition of environmental groups.
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