The report also reveals how the Brazilian government has offered billions of dollars in loans to support the expansion of the cattle industry, despite its massive environmental impact. This investment severely undermines Brazil’s claims to be reducing deforestation, and jeopardises efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest.
The Greenpeace report, entitled ‘Slaughtering the Amazon’, tracks beef and leather products on their journey from farms involved in illegal deforestation and in some cases it alleges slavery, via giant processing facilities to the supply chains of global brands such as, Tesco, Adidas, Reebok, Nike, Clark’s, BMW, Carrefour, Eurostar, Ford, Honda, Gucci, IKEA, Kraft, and Wal-Mart.
Reacting to the report, Greenpeace forest campaigner Sarah Shoraka said: ‘Running shoes, handbags and car seats aren’t normally associated with rainforest destruction and climate change, but we’ve found a smoking gun. This new evidence shows how companies are driving the destruction of the Amazon by buying beef and leather products from unscrupulous suppliers in Brazil. These products are ending up on our shelves.’
Shoraka continued: ‘The cattle industry is the single biggest cause of deforestation in the world and is a disaster for the fight against climate change. Global brands must take a stand and stop doing business with the worst offenders immediately.’
Deforestation is seen as an international priority in negotiations for a new climate change agreement likely to be agreed at Copenhagen next December. They claim major international corporations and Governments are undermining efforts to tackle this issue through their links to deforestation and the cattle industry in Brazil.
The total value of the cattle trade for Brazil was $6.9 billion in 2008, with leather representing more than a quarter of that value.
Greenpeace also claim that the evidence uncovered also exposes a key contradiction in the public statements of Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva, who has pledged to double his country’s share of the global beef market by 2018 and whose Government has invested heavily in Bertin, JBS and Marfrig. The report contrasts these investments with his recent promise to cut deforestation by 72% by the same date and to set up an international fund for protecting the Amazon.
Greenpeace is calling on President Lula to introduce an immediate moratorium on further deforestation for cattle ranching, and to commit to zero deforestation in the Amazon by 2015. They also state that companies should immediately stop purchasing from Brazilian suppliers who don’t now commit to cleaning up their supply chains and support a moratorium on all deforestation for cattle ranching.
