CEO Note: Signs of Progress for South American Forests

The document highlights the deployment of a cattle traceability program in Pará, Brazil, and a proposed traceability bill in Colombia to combat 'cattle laundering' and deforestation. It warns that the Amazon Soy Moratorium is under threat from a Brazilian anti-competition body ruling and discusses the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), for which Brazil has committed $1 billion, though the author argues $25 billion is needed to achieve necessary scale.

• In Pará, Brazil, a traceability initiative led by Governor Helder Barbalho aims to trace all cattle within the state by 2027 to prevent 'cattle laundering,' where ranchers move cattle between deforested sites to evade sustainability requirements. Meat companies are beginning to adopt this at scale, with JBS providing over 120,000 ear tags to ranchers.
• Colombia is pursuing a legislative bill that would establish a traceability system to monitor cattle and allow slaughterhouses and buyers to exclude products linked to deforestation, particularly to protect national parks and protected areas in the Amazon.
• The Amazon Soy Moratorium, described as a highly effective conservation policy, is currently threatened by a ruling from the Brazilian anti-competition body that could undermine the policy starting in the new year.
• Brazilian President Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva has committed $1 billion to the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), a fund designed to reward countries for forest conservation and limit financing for those engaging in deforestation. The author states that at least $25 billion in total contributions are needed before the summit in Belém for the fund to be effective.

APA

Hurowitz, G. (2025). CEO Note: Signs of Progress for South American Forests. Mighty Earth. https://mightyearth.org/article/ceo-note-signs-of-progress-for-south-american-forests/

Chicago

Hurowitz, Glenn. CEO Note: Signs of Progress for South American Forests. Mighty Earth, 2025. https://mightyearth.org/article/ceo-note-signs-of-progress-for-south-american-forests/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Hurowitz |first1=Glenn |title=CEO Note: Signs of Progress for South American Forests |publisher=Mighty Earth |date=7 October 2025 |url=https://mightyearth.org/article/ceo-note-signs-of-progress-for-south-american-forests/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{hurowitz2025ceo, author = {Hurowitz, Glenn}, title = {{CEO Note: Signs of Progress for South American Forests}}, publisher = {Mighty Earth}, year = {2025}, month = oct, url = {https://mightyearth.org/article/ceo-note-signs-of-progress-for-south-american-forests/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }