Colombia Just Passed a Law That Tracks Every Cow to Stop Amazon Deforestation
Colombia has enacted a groundbreaking law requiring all beef to be traced from birth to slaughter, aiming to stop deforestation linked to cattle ranching in the Amazon rainforest. The new rule makes Colombia the first country in the region to mandate full tracking of every cow to ensure beef is not produced on illegally cleared land.
The law, passed this month, targets cattle ranching, which environmental groups say is the leading cause of forest destruction in the Amazon [176020]. Under the new system, each animal must be tracked from its origin through every stage of production until it is slaughtered [176020]. This allows authorities to verify that beef sold in Colombia does not come from land that was illegally deforested [176020]. Supporters say the law could serve as a model for other Amazon countries, where livestock production remains a major driver of tree loss in the world’s largest rainforest [176020].