If the carbon sink in the Amazon were destroyed to supply beef to Europe and other areas, it would be the equivalent to releasing over seventy times the annual emissions from the EU. 

The Amazonian countries of Brazil and Agentina are the largest non EU suppliers of agricultural products to the EU and continue to increase volumes annually.

The Amazon is estimated to store 80-120 billon tonnes of carbon.  The cattle sector in the Brazilian Amazon has been identified as the biggest cause of annual deforesation in the world.  On average one hectare of Amazon rainforest is lost to cattle ranchers every 18 seconds.

If the South American deforestation and carbon sink removal continues and the Amazon were destroyed, it would be  equivalent to releasing over seventy times the annual GHG emissions from the EU.

The European Union’s import policy must be reviewed.  Agriculture must be treated separately from the other non-traded sectors in the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen.  European Union negotiators must not agree a climate change package which increases international GHG emissions by displacing EU agriculture production with production from former Amazonian rainforest lands in South America.