Revealed: rampant deforestation of Amazon driven by global greed for meat

Investigation exposes how Brazil's huge beef sector continues to threaten health of world's largest rainforest

• 'We must not barter the Amazon rainforest for burgers and steaks'

The cows grazed under the midday Amazon sun, near a wooden bridge spanning a river. It was an idyllic scene of pastoral quiet, occasionally broken by a motorbike growling on the dirt road that cuts through part of the Lagoa do Triunfo cattle farm to a nearby community.

But this pasture is land that the farm has been forbidden to use for cattle since 2010, when it was embargoed by Brazil's government environment agency Ibama for illegal deforestation. Nearby were more signs of fresh pasture: short grass, feeding troughs, and salt for cattle.