⁍ JBS SA, the world’s top meatpacker, said on Wednesday it plans to combat destruction in the Amazon by monitoring its entire supply chain for deforestation by 2025.

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⁍ The move is part of a broader set of environmental actions announced by JBS on Wednesday as it launched a 1 billion-real ($182.77 million) fund to foster social and economic development in the Amazon.

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⁍ Last year, in the worst destruction for over a decade, an area the size of Lebanon was cut out of the world’s largest rainforest.

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– Deforestation in the Amazon is on the rise, and one of the world’s biggest meatpackers is trying to do something about it. JBS, the world’s No. 1 meatpacker, says it plans to monitor its entire supply chain for deforestation by 2025, Reuters reports. The company says it will use blockchain technology to track the movement of cattle from illegally cleared pastures to its slaughterhouses. “Currently, the company does not monitor indirect suppliers and no company does so,” CEO Gilberto Tomazoni says. “But we plan to close this gap using technology.” The move comes as investors and environmentalists are growing increasingly concerned about deforestation in the Amazon, where cleared land is often used for cattle pasture. Last year, in the worst destruction for more than a decade, an area the size of Lebanon was cut out of the world’s largest rainforest. JBS, along with other major Brazilian meatpackers, has worked to ensure it doesn’t buy cattle from farms that have cut down the forest without permission, but has previously only monitored the final ranch that sells to them. Ranches further down the chain, so-called indirect suppliers, have avoided these checks, meaning cattle can be easily ‘laundered’ from illegally cleared pastures to farms with no environmental record that then sell to slaughterhouses like JBS. The company aims to invest $182.77 million in a fund to foster social and economic development in the Amazon over the next five years.