Beef production in Brazil has been the largest driver of global deforestation in recent decades
Since the turn of the century, an area of forest five times the size of my home country, the United Kingdom, has been cut down to free up land for farming.
自世纪之交以来，面积是我的祖国英国五倍的森林被砍伐，以腾出土地用于耕种。
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If we want to reduce — and ultimately end — deforestation, we need to know what’s causing it, and where.
如果我们想减少并最终结束森林砍伐，我们需要知道造成森林砍伐的原因和地点。
When we look at the largest drivers of this deforestation, beef production is the standout.
当我们审视森林砍伐的最大驱动因素时，牛肉生产是最突出的。
The clearing of forests to make space for grazing pastures has driven 41% of global deforestation in recent decades.
近几十年来，为给牧场腾出空间而砍伐森林导致了全球 41% 的森林砍伐。
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Where has this happened?
这件事发生在哪里？
Mostly in Brazil.
主要在巴西。
Almost two-thirds of it has taken place there, as you can see in the chart below.
如下图所示，几乎三分之二的事情发生在那里。
That means one-quarter of global deforestation is caused by beef production in Brazil.
这意味着全球四分之一的森林砍伐是由巴西的牛肉生产造成的。
The expansion of cattle pastures has not just come at the expense of natural forests, but particularly of biodiverse regions in the Amazon rainforest and Cerrado savanna.
牛牧场的扩张不仅以牺牲天然森林为代价，而且特别以牺牲亚马逊雨林和塞拉多稀树草原的生物多样性地区为代价。
Since demand for beef is growing globally, one might think that a lot of this beef goes overseas.
由于全球对牛肉的需求不断增长，人们可能会认为很多牛肉都销往海外。
But this isn’t really true: most of the beef Brazil produces is consumed domestically.
但事实并非如此：巴西生产的大部分牛肉都在国内消费。
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Beef consumption has grown a lot in Brazil, with per-person demand doubling over the past 50 years.
巴西的牛肉消费量大幅增长，过去 50 年来人均需求量翻了一番。
Average consumption is now three times the European average.
目前平均消费量是欧洲平均水平的三倍。
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Estimates of “traded deforestation” confirm how much of this story is a domestic one.
对“交易性砍伐”的估计证实了这个故事有多少是国内故事。
5 The chart below shows where the products that drive deforestation in Brazil end up.
5 下图显示了导致巴西森林砍伐的产品最终流向何处。
This data is for the period 2005 to 2023 (the only timeframe this trade-adjusted data is available), but you get similar results when looking only at the last few years.
该数据适用于 2005 年至 2023 年期间（此贸易调整数据的唯一可用时间范围），但仅查看最近几年时，您会得到类似的结果。
Around 85% of deforestation in the country was driven by domestic demand.
该国约 85% 的森林砍伐是由国内需求造成的。
The other 15% was exported and spread across many countries — China and the United States are the largest importers, but none are particularly dominant.
另外 15% 出口并分布在许多国家——中国和美国是最大的进口国，但没有一个特别占主导地位。
International demand for beef (and soy) has driven some deforestation in Brazil, but most of it has been to meet demand at home.
国际对牛肉（和大豆）的需求导致了巴西的一些森林砍伐，但大部分是为了满足国内需求。
Many thanks to Max Roser and Edouard Mathieu for their comments and suggestions on this article.
非常感谢 Max Roser 和 Edouard Mathieu 对本文的评论和建议。
How much, and what types of food, do countries produce across the world?
世界各国生产多少食品、生产什么类型的食品？
Rich countries import foods produced on deforested land in the tropics.
富裕国家进口热带森林砍伐土地上生产的食品。
How much deforestation do they import?
他们进口了多少森林砍伐？
Commodity-driven deforestation between 2001 and 2023 was estimated at 128 million hectares globally.
2001 年至 2023 年间，全球因商品导致的森林砍伐面积估计为 1.28 亿公顷。
This includes agricultural production and forest plantations.
这包括农业生产和森林种植园。
The United Kingdom has a land area of around 24 million hectares.
英国的土地面积约为2400万公顷。
[128 million / 24 million = 5.3 times the size].
[1.28 亿 / 2400 万 = 5.3 倍大小]。
Singh, C., & Persson, U.
辛格 (Singh)，C. 和佩尔森 (Persson)，U.
M.
M。
(2026).
（2026）。
Global patterns of commodity-driven deforestation and associated carbon emissions.
商品驱动的森林砍伐和相关碳排放的全球模式。
Nature Food.
自然食品。
The country produces around 9–10 million tonnes of beef each year, of which around 3 million tonnes are exported .
该国每年生产约 9-1000 万吨牛肉，其中约 300 万吨用于出口。
In 2023, it was third in the global rankings, behind Argentina and Zimbabwe, which consume slightly more.
2023年，它在全球排名第三，落后于消费稍多的阿根廷和津巴布韦。
Singh, C., Persson, U.
辛格，C.，佩尔森，U.
M., Croft, S., Kastner, T., & West, C.
M.、克罗夫特，S.、卡斯特纳，T. 和韦斯特，C.
D.
D .
(2026).
（2026）。
Commodity-driven deforestation, associated carbon emissions and trade 2001–2023 (Version 2.1) [Dataset].
2001-2023 年商品驱动的森林砍伐、相关碳排放和贸易（2.1 版）[数据集]。
Zenodo.
泽诺多.
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我们的文章和数据可视化依赖于许多不同的人和组织的工作。
When citing this article, please also cite the underlying data sources.
引用本文时，请同时注明底层数据来源。
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这篇文章可以引用为：
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我们是一个活跃的网站，我们会保持我们的工作。
So our articles are often changed, including the data.
所以我们的文章经常改，包括数据。
You can browse previous versions of this work here.
您可以在此处浏览此作品的先前版本。