More forests are cleared to make way for beef cattle than for any other purpose. But retailers are increasingly being encouraged to only sell beef that's "deforestation-free".
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00:00Cattle grazing on grass. It's an image almost synonymous with Australian countryside.
00:09Beef producers actually occupy about 50% of this country, the whole continent. They are
00:14land managers.
00:16But not everyone is happy with that stewardship.
00:18The biggest areas of deforestation that occur each year in Australia are on land where beef
00:23production is the major land use. But the drivers of land clearing are actually really
00:28diverse and quite complex.
00:30The Australian Conservation Foundation wants to change that by focusing on coals and Woolworths
00:35who sell a third of all beef in Australia.
00:38The biggest driver of deforestation in Australia is beef production, which is why it's so important
00:42that coals and Woolworths play a really key role in helping eliminate deforestation from
00:46Australian supply chains.
00:48ALDI has promised to stop buying beef from properties that clear forests, as have most
00:52major supermarkets in the UK. And the EU is banning importation of that beef. So far,
00:58coals and Woolworths haven't followed suit. But conservationists are ramping up pressure.
01:03ACF has identified and verified 50 properties around Australia that have had deforestation
01:09occurring on them in the last four years. And these are all properties that are linked
01:13to domestic beef supply. These are also properties that have endangered wildlife habitat on them.
01:19ACF wants the supermarkets to guarantee their beef won't come from such properties. But
01:24Cattle Australia says if the clearing is legal, it shouldn't be punished.
01:28If you're managing your land in conjunction with the laws of the land, then I can't see
01:34how we're even in a debate about this.
01:37What's not debatable is the extinction crisis. Australia leads the world in the number of
01:41mammal extinctions and the biggest threat to endangered species is habitat loss.