Illegal deforestation in Brazil: the Zara and H&M brands singled out by a British NGO
Cairo: Hani Kamal El-Din
Two giants of “fast fashion” heavily blamed. In a report published Thursday April 11, the British NGO Earthsight accuses H&M and Zara of being “related” large-scale illegal deforestation activities in Brazil, as well as land grabbing, corruption and violence on cotton plantations owned by their subcontractors.
Earthsight has compiled and analyzed satellite imagery, court decisions, product shipping records and the results of undercover investigations. The NGO says it has traced the journey of 816,000 tonnes of cotton, coming from two of Brazil’s largest agro-industrial companies – SLC Agricola and the Horita group – in the state of Bahia.
The Brazilian families who own these farms have “a heavy history of legal proceedings, convictions for corruption and millions of dollars in fines for illegal deforestation”, denounces the NGO. They carry out their activities in part of the Cerrado region, a savannah renowned for the richness of its fauna and flora.
These tons of cotton then landed in eight textile factories in Asia, where Zara and H&M source their supplies. All this cotton was certified as “sustainable” by the Better Cotton organization, according to Earthsight, which deplores the “deep gaps” of this certification system.
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