Western countries have not eliminated a quarter of their GDP to prevent climate change, shouldn't they do that before telling those much poorer than they to do so?
Keep in mind that the deforestation is purely caused by the livestock industry trying to squeeze profits. There are other ways to produce meat that don't involve invading and burning forests.
According to the government, in 2017 only 5,7% of the GDP is directly related to agriculture and livestock production [1]. And according to an industry website livestock was responsible for only 31% of that [2].
The rest of that "one quarter" is related to processing and distribution, which can happen in urban areas closer to the southeast, far away from the Amazon, and those things don't benefit at all from the deforestation.
And the processing/distribution industry could exist by itself without local production, as proved by places like Hong Kong, the largest importer of Brazilian beef. [3]
By the way, the biggest producer of beef in Brazil is the state of Sao Paulo, which is on the other side of the country, not at all related to Amazon. [3]
So nope. Stopping the Amazon deforestation RIGHT NOW won't even make dent in our GDP.
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[1] http://www.agricultura.gov.br/noticias/agropecuaria-puxa-o-p...
[2] https://www.beefpoint.com.br/abiec-perfil-da-pecuaria-no-bra...
[3] https://www.globalmeatnews.com/Article/2018/01/18/Brazilian-...
It happens to be a crime here in Brazil to invade lands and burn preserved areas. People should and have been arrested for it.
The deforestation is purely a political problem, this has nothing to do with economics as you've tried to portray here.
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Btw, by "political problem" I mean that the government was outright saying that the deforestation and fires "are normal" [1], or they're accusing NGOs of starting the fires [2], or even denying external help to avoid the fires in Amazon [3].
The current position of the government is different, however. Now is that the fires should be stopped, and the army has been sent to Amazon to arrest people. [4]
And that was thanks to both external and internal pressure. Why did it took so long? Because there were too many criminal apologists trying to justify why burning the country was needed. But it wasn't.
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[1] https://noticias.uol.com.br/meio-ambiente/ultimas-noticias/a...
[2] https://noticias.uol.com.br/meio-ambiente/ultimas-noticias/r...
[3] https://noticias.uol.com.br/meio-ambiente/ultimas-noticias/r...
[4] https://exame.abril.com.br/brasil/exercito-prende-63-pessoas...