A Brazilian farmer has been sentenced by a federal court to more than $50 million for illegally clearing the Amazon jungle to create pastures for cattle, according to The Guardian, in the largest-ever civil climate crime case in Brazil.
The verdict was handed down at the end of July this year, and Dirceu Krüger was found guilty. The court also froze the assets of cattle breeder Dirceu Krüger. At the same time, the court froze the rancher's assets and property as part of the sentence.
He cleared thousands of hectares
The court found that the rancher had illegally cleared 5,600 hectares of rainforest, home to the indigenous communities of Boca do Acre and Lábrea, on land owned by the federal government and the state of Amazonas. The rancher cut down trees and then burned the remaining vegetation, then planted grass on the land to create pastures for livestock.
Because the land is public, state and federal authorities filed lawsuits against the breeder. The forest damage was documented with satellite and aerial photos. The breeder admitted guilt.
$65 per ton of CO2
Prosecutors argued that Kruger’s actions harmed the climate in two ways: the fires released greenhouse gases and the cleared forest stopped removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The court estimated the damage at $65 per ton of CO2, based on the average social cost of carbon dioxide emissions calculated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
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