Cattle ranching, if it keeps expanding in the Amazon, threatens two-fifths of the world's remaining rainforest. This is not just the most diverse ecosystem, but also the biggest reserve of standing carbon. Its clearance could provoke a hydrological disaster in South America, as rainfall is reduced as the trees come down. Next time you see footage of the forest burning, remember that you might have paid for it.

How Ranching is Causing Deforestion It is the biggest cause of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest and 80% of the deforested areas in Brazil are used for pasture (Greenpeace). Ranches also use a large number of slave laborers. As the cattle grazes the area, they eat the grass and plants in the area and the soil becomes compacted and is no longer sustainable. The cattle ranchers then need to move to another area, destroying more of the rainforest and creating more unsustainable land causing a vicous cycle that keeps continuing. Rancher use the rainforest because it's a cheap way to raise cattle and then export it to other countries such as the United States. The demand for Brazilian beef has grown recently in the past few years due to control over diseases in Brazil (ex. foot-and-mouth disease), improvements and development of more roads into the forest, and how easy it is to gain title to land (which is to just clearing a part of the forest and placing some cattle there). There is so much ranching occurring in the rainforest due to how much easier it is to own cattle and acquire the land than it is to own crops.A Company Involved in Deforestation McDonald's is actively using the Brazil rainforest for their ranching purposes. It enables them to acquire wealth by burning down the rainforest and then paying ranchers to come in and raise cattle. The ranchers don't have a set minimum wage, as we do in the states, therefore they can be paid much less to work. It also doesn't cost much for them to acquire land. All they have to do is burn down a part of the rainforest and then place cattle on the land, then later they can export the beef back to the United States Ways to Prevent Ranching From Causing Deforestation Don't eat or support places such as McDonald's, KFC, or Burger King. Before you go out to eat, research the restaurant and see whether they have ranches in the rainforest. Donate to an organization or cause that is actively trying to stop ranching in the rain

Bruce mucked in at a cattle ranch near Altamira, wrestling cows, inoculating calves, and having a brave (some might say foolish) attempt at rodeo. Cattle farming is big business in the Amazon - there are three times more cattle in the legal Amazon than there are people (64 million in 2003), and ranching is on the increase. It's a profitable enterprise because land prices are so low: pasture in the Amazon was five times lower than land around Sao Paolo in 2000. Most cattle produced are eaten elsewhere in Brazil, not locally in the Amazon, and Brazil is the world's top exporter, shipping over $3 billion worth of beef in 2006 and supplying nearly every country, including the UK. Cattle-ranching is a major factor in the deforestation of the Amazon. Most ranches are highly mechanised, and employ on average one person per 400 acres. Ranching may increase further in the future with the World Bank considering a loan of $90 million to increase beef capacity in Para - the Brazilian state of the eastern Amazon.

The Amazon rainforest is still under threat from cattle ranching. The forest is being cut down at an astonishingly fast rate as the need for grazing land increases. Since many can make a good living from cattle ranching the rainforest will continue to be destroyed.