H&M stops buying leather from Brazil over Amazon fires

[sandensea]

Low-cost fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) said Friday it is suspending leather purchases from Brazil to make sure it is not supporting cattle farming that may be contributing to the fires in the Amazon rainforest.

The move by the Stockholm-based company follows a similar decision by the maker of Vans and Timberland shoes.

Some international investors are also trying to put pressure on the Brazilian government, which has been seen as too lax in its approach to protecting the rainforest.

Hennes & Mauritz AB said its temporary ban on leather from Brazil will remain in place “until there are credible assurances ... that the leather does not contribute to environmental harm in the Amazon.”

At: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/handm-stops-buying-leather-from-brazil-over-amazon-fires/2019/09/06/360f40a4-d083-11e9-a620-0a91656d7db6_story.html

Cattle and their ranchers in the São Marcelo Ranch in Brazil's Mato Grosso state.

The São Marcelo Ranch in 2012 became the first in the world to earn Rainforest Alliance certification for sustainable cattle production.

Most other Brazilian cattle ranches, however, operate with little regard for either waterways or, if near the Amazon, the rainforest around them.

The powerful cattle lobby is believed to be behind far-right President Jair Bolsonaro's push to allow increased rainforest burning - leading to this year's Amazon fires crisis.

[sanatanadharma]

1. Good opportunity for Uruguay

Perhaps Uruguay can capture this market. The hides are here. A port is present. La gente de campo necesita mas mercados
Hay demasiadas vacas para comer.
More carne and skins than stomachs and feet. Live cattle are exported afoot by ship to middle-eastern nations. Skin exports have recently sagged.

[sandensea]

2. And Argentina as well

While leather and hides are now minor exports for both countries (1% for Argentina; 3% for Uruguay), they could both certainly use the added foreign exchange - particularly Argentina, currently in the throes of a severe "Macrisis" (basically, a Bush-style debt crisis, combined with punitive domestic policy).

Both Uruguay and Argentina would be good alternatives as well, since cattle ranching there is relatively ethical.

Cattle ranches in both countries are mostly located in areas that, for the most part, have always been grasslands - and have thus resulted in relatively little deforestation.

Workers in Argentine and Uruguayan ranches generally also have better working conditions than their Brazilian counterparts - especially those Brazilians unfortunate enough to work in deforested Amazon areas.

In any case, it's good to see this issue getting the attention it deserves.

As you may know, it's actually been going on, and on a large scale, since the 1970s, when Brazil's dictatorship thought it would be a good way to lure slum-dwellers away from the major cities.

They knew the irreparable harm so doing could cause to the Amazon - but didn't care.