São Paulo, 11 June 2020 – Nearly 80 representatives of beef production and marketing supply chain entities from Brazil and China – including exporting and importing companies, finance institutions, non-profit organizations and NGOs and government authorities – took part this week in a dialogue to advance sustainable livestock management in Brazil’s Cerrado and Amazon regions.
Photo: TNC
The process was supported by the Tropical Forest Alliance, a global platform bringing the private and public sectors together to facilitate the world’s transition to deforestation-free commodity supply chains. The June 2020 sustainable beef dialogue was part of an ongoing forest-positive collective action initiative to increase the production of and market for sustainable Brazilian beef – creating new business opportunities while also realizing the conservation of the country’s important forest landscapes.
"This forest-positive collective action for the intensification and monitoring of livestock offers potential solutions for the reduction of carbon emissions and deforestation throughout the beef supply chain, while meeting all the quality requirements of the Chinese market," said Fabíola Zerbini, Tropical Forest Alliance Regional Director for Latin America.
Brazilian meat exports have increased tenfold in the last twenty years. About half of these exports are to China and Hong Kong. Despite beef now representing a small portion of the Chinese diet, and the country becoming the third-largest meat producer in the world, China beef consumption has increased significantly – up 25% for the period between 2010 and 2030.
"A positive future for trade relations between Brazil and China, built on strong sustainability criteria, is now possible as an outcome of the important dialogue held between the buyers and producers. This is advancing development and implementation of incentives that benefit all players in the beef commodity supply chain, while ensuring food security and protecting the critical Amazonian and Cerrado. It is this type of successful collaborative action that is the hallmark of the Tropical Forest Alliance’s work to promote forest-positive collective action," added Zerbini.
Learn more about the Tropical Forest Alliance’s forest-positive collective action agenda.