The Amazon, the green lung of the planet, is literally suffocating. According to the new study by Greenpeace International, “Toxic Skies: How Agribusiness is Choking the Amazon”those who live in the heart of the forest breathe more polluted air than that of megacities such as Beijing, Sao Paulo or London.
Levels of particulate matter (PM2.5) up to 20 times higher than WHO recommended limits are turning one of the world’s most precious areas into an open-air gas chamber.
The causes, Greenpeace reports, are anything but natural: the fires are intentionally set to free up new land for livestock grazing and feed crops. It is the other side of agribusiness, which behind meat production hides a long trail of burned forests, unbreathable air and compromised lives.
The report
In the cities of Porto Velho (Rondonia) e Lábrea (Amazonas), daily concentrations of fine particles exceeded safety limits by 20 times. Even in periods of apparent “calm”, particulate matter remains up to six times above the WHO thresholds. The result? The Amazon, which is supposed to purify the world’s air, is today one of the most polluted regions on the planet.
The Amazon plays a fundamental role in life on the planet, but today it is suffocating in the smoke of fires started by the meat industry. These fires are not natural events, but are set to make room for pastures or plantations for animal feed, putting the health and lives of people at risk, from cities to indigenous communities – declares Martina Borghi, Forestry campaign of Greenpeace Italy.
Children in hospital beds, elderly people struggling to breathe and forests burning to fuel the global meat trade: this is the true cost of industrial agriculture. At COP30, lobbyists will say their industry is part of the solution. Governments, however, must go beyond greenwashing by holding industry directly accountable
An Italy of burned forests around the farms
The report highlights how almost all fires in the Brazilian Amazon are concentrated in areas subject to agricultural exploitation. Satellite data collected between 2019 and 2024 shows that more than 30 million hectares, an area the size of Italy, were burned in a 360km radius around the factories of JBS, the world’s largest meat company.
This highlights the high risk of exposure to the intentional use of fire by suppliers, both in direct and indirect supply chains, faced by meat companies such as JBS, which have no explicit policies to prohibit the practice.
In short, many of these fires are linked directly or indirectly to meat sector suppliers, who often do not have binding environmental policies to prohibit the use of fire.
Children and the elderly are the first victims
The consequences can be seen in hospitals. In Porto Velho, during the fire season, hospitalizations for respiratory problems increase dramatically, particularly among children and the elderly.
Analyzes cited by Greenpeace estimate tens of thousands of hospitalizations and premature deaths over the last decade caused by smoke pollution.
According to experts, reaching WHO air quality standards could extend the lives of those living in the most affected states – Rondônia and Amazonas – by up to 2.9 years.
At the COP30 in Belém, the request for a real plan for forests
Greenpeace is calling on governments gathered at the next COP30 in Brazil to adopt a global Action Plan to stop deforestation by 2030, in line with UN objectives. The organization also calls on institutions and investors to end all relationships with meat and feed producers who fuel forest destruction, and instead support fair, sustainable and transparent food systems.
The Amazon is not just a forest. It is a collective breath, a lung that keeps the planet alive. Stopping the hand of agribusiness is not just an environmental choice, but a question of justice and survival.
HERE you can find the report in Italian.
