Novo Repartimento. She’s piercing their ears. Their new jewellery – ear tags, actually – will track their movements throughout their lives as part of an initiative aimed at slowing deforestation in the Brazilian state of Para. Depending on how well it works, it’s the kind of solution the world needs more of to slow climate change, the subject of annual United Nations talks just a few hours away in Belém. With about 20 million cattle in Para, it’s a mammoth task. Some of them are on big farms closer to cities, but others are in remote areas where farmers have been cutting down Amazon rainforest to make room for their pastures. That’s a problem for climate change because it means trees that absorb pollution are being replaced by cattle that emit methane, a powerful planet-warming gas.

Brazil has lost about 339,685 square kilometres (131,153 square miles) of mature rainforest since 2001 – an area roughly the size of Germany – and more than a third of that loss was in Para, according to Global Forest Watch. Para alone accounts for about 14 per cent of all rainforest loss recorded worldwide over the last 24 years.  Gorete, with her small herd, said the tagging hasn’t been much of a hassle. And she sees the programme as a good thing. It will let her sell her beef to companies and countries whose consumers want to know where it came from. “With this identification, it opens doors to the world,” said Gorete, who, before cattle ranching, cultivated acai and cacao. “It adds value to the animals.” (Jamaica Gleaner)