Brazil: Illegal Ranches Devastate Rainforest, Livelihoods

(São Paulo, October 15, 2025) – Illegal cattle ranching has devastated the territories of small farmers and Indigenous peoples in Pará, the state that will hold the COP30 climate summit this year, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. JBS, the world’s largest meat company, may have exported beef and hides to the European Union made with cattle sourced from illegal ranches in this region.

The report “Tainted: JBS and the EU’s Exposure to Human Rights Violations and Illegal Deforestation in Pará, Brazil,” details how cattle ranchers illegally seized land and devastated the livelihoods of lawful residents in the Terra Nossa smallholder settlement and the Cachoeira Seca Indigenous territory, affecting their rights to housing, land, and culture. Human Rights Watch analysis of official sources shows that illegal farms in these areas sold cattle to several JBS direct suppliers.