Brazil Spotlight: "São Félix do Xingu: the leader of greenhouse emissions in the Amazon"

With few industries and modest vehicle traffic, the municipality of São Félix do Xingu—in the Amazon’s Pará state —is now the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in Brazil. This is due to the conversion of forests into grassland and an increase in the head of cattle to 2.5 million. On the banks of the Xingu River, the city of São Félix is surrounded by large indigenous territories and unprotected nature reserves that are at the epicenter of deforestation in the Amazon and Brazil.

A study by the NGO Observatório do Clima analyzed data collected on the greenhouse gas emissions of all 5,570 Brazilian municipalities—an unprecedented broad spectrum review. Of the ten municipalities that contributed most to global warming between 2000 and 2018, seven are located in the Amazon. The three municipalities outside the Amazon are São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Serra—a centre for steel-making in Espírito Santo state.

In Brazil, the biggest cause of global warming is deforestation and livestock. Only China, the United States, the European Union, India and Russia rank higher globally as greenhouse gas emitters. According to the World Resources Institute ranking, if São Félix do Xingu was a country, it would rank globally ahead of Chile, Uruguay, Norway, Croatia, Costa Rica and Panama.

The emissions generated in São Félix would be even greater were it not for the rainforests that remain standing in the region. These absorb 10 million tons of CO2 equivalent from the atmosphere each year. The municipality has long been the ancestral territory of indigenous peoples such as the Kayapó, the Arara, the Parakanã, the Araweté and the Asurini.

Founded in 1900, São Félix was an important producer of rubber (until 1914) and Brazil nuts. In 1958, the opening of the Belém-Brasília road attracted thousands of northeastern migrants to the region, leading to the cutting and burning of forests, the establishment of farms and the spread of hardy Indian-origin Zebu cattle.

In a region lacking commercial markets and basic transit infrastructure, livestock quickly became the cheapest, easiest and most profitable predatory economy. Cattle can swim; they don't need bridges. In 1976, the opening of the PA-279 road linking São Félix to Xinguara brought an influx of migrants and a boom in livestock herds and deforestation, which now drive its economy.

"In Brazil, the biggest cause of global warming is deforestation and livestock. Only China, the United States, the European Union, India and Russia rank higher globally as greenhouse gas emitters."



Livestock expansion has accelerated in recent decades, turning razed forests into pasture. Between 2000 and 2018, the municipality's head of cattle increased 231 per cent, from 682,000 to 2.2 million, with a further 300,000 cattle estimated to have been added to that stock between 2019 and 2021.

In 2019 alone, the amount of forest burned and felled in the municipality was 9,200 km² (or about 5,700 mi², 10 per cent of its total area); one third of deforestation in the Amazon that year. Currently, cattle outnumber São Félix residents by 200 to 1. The municipality's GDP per capita ranks 19 among the 114 municipalities in Pará state. Several efforts are being made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: halting deforestation, introducing techniques for soil management, and introducing more sustainable agricultural methods. 

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