Abstract Recent Amazon fires fuelled a media narrative combining politics with an already emotive story linking deforestation to extensive cattle ranching and global meat consumption. Scrutiny of the reasons for the 2019 fires suggests that the perceived link between deforestation and extensive land use for beef production is not as clear as commonly supposed. Indeed, land sparing through sustainable intensification of predominant livestock pastures may be acting as a significant buffer between meat demand and livestock production and consequent land use change and deforestation. Well-intentioned beef boycotts potentially weaken the incentive to invest in pasture restoration and may lead to a counterfactual of extensive land use, and increased greenhouse gas emissions. The possibility suggests the need for more nuanced debate about the regional-specificity of land use for sustainable livestock production, and the role of dietary change.

中文翻译：

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火灾、森林砍伐和牲畜：当烟雾消散时

摘要 最近的亚马逊火灾助长了媒体叙事，将政治与已经将森林砍伐与大规模养牛场和全球肉类消费联系起来的情绪化故事相结合。对 2019 年火灾原因的详细审查表明，森林砍伐与广泛用于牛肉生产的土地之间的联系并不像人们通常认为的那样明确。事实上，通过主要牲畜牧场的可持续集约化节约土地可能是肉类需求和牲畜生产以及随之而来的土地利用变化和森林砍伐之间的重要缓冲。出于善意的抵制牛肉可能会削弱投资于牧场恢复的动力，并可能导致大量土地使用和温室气体排放增加的反事实。