H's jeans, hoodies, shorts and socks
While global concern about land use has so far focused on the impact of beef and soy farming in the Amazon, warnings about deforestation have shifted to Brazil's Cerrado tropical savannah, less known but great ecological value.
More than half of the Cerrado has been logged for large-scale agriculture, mainly in recent decades. And, according to Earthsight research, cotton is one of the main culprits in this situation. Brazil has greatly increased cotton production, almost all of it in the Cerrado. By 2030, Brazil is expected to overtake the United States as the world's largest cotton exporter.
"Corporations and consumers in Europe and North America are driving this destruction in a new way. Not by what they eat, but by what they wear," the report says.
The group's researchers traced at least 816,000 tons of cotton exported between 2014 and 2023 from the investigated farms (two cotton producers in Bahia) to 8 Asian companies that shipped at least 20 million finished garments for brands such as H
Garment factories are based in countries such as Bangladesh and Indonesia.
The report noted that the sustainability standard used by fashion brands called Better Cotton were "fundamentally flawed" and gave consumers no guarantee that they were not buying cotton from Brazilian farms not involved in environmental crimes.
Better Cotton certifies producers who meet its sustainability standards and labor practices, and says it covers 22% of global cotton production; in Brazil, 42% of cotton.
Western fashion giants do not buy cotton directly. They source their garments largely from suppliers based in Asia. These companies transform raw cotton into finished merchandise.
An Inditex spokesperson told La Vanguardia: “We take the accusations against Better Cotton very seriously, which strictly prohibits land theft and deforestation in its practical requirements. For this reason, we have called on the organization to share as soon as possible the result of the independent investigation that has been carried out and the necessary measures to guarantee sustainable cotton certification that respects the highest standards."
Inditex emphasizes that it does not buy cotton directly, but rather acquires finished products. The cotton used by its suppliers to make their garments is audited by independent organizations, which are responsible for certifying the good practices used in obtaining this raw material.
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Earthsight found that all cotton traced by this NGO was certified as "sustainable" by Better Cotton.
Brazil's cotton exports have risen sharply in the last decade due to a boom in production in the Cerrado, which has lost about half of its natural vegetation to agriculture and where laws and controls to curb deforestation are fewer. stricter than in the Amazon.
The Cerrado savanna, which covers an area larger than Mexico, includes forest areas and vegetation areas vital to slowing global warming, due to their ability to absorb and store carbon. It is home to endangered animals such as the giant anteater and giant armadillo. Highlands where blue macaws and jaguars once abounded are now vast monocultures. Species such as the maned wolf and the blue-eyed ground pigeon are, among many others, in danger as their habitat disappears.
This area is also a key source of water for much of South America, but the expansion of highly water-consuming cotton crops is threatening supplies for traditional communities and has driven them from the grazing lands they have used. for generations, is noted in the research to which this newspaper had access.
"The communities have lost access to the plateaus that used to have natural pastures where the families' livestock were fed," said Mauricio Correia Silva, a research consultant for the Association of Lawyers in Defense of Rural Workers in the state of Bahia. who has studied land grabbing in the Cerrado.
At the center of agricultural expansion is the state of Bahia, the center of Earthsight's research.
According to data from the IPAM environmental institute, three quarters of the Cerrado vegetation lost in 2023 was located in the Matopiba region, headquarters of the vast farm dedicated to the Estrondo agribusiness, which mainly produces cotton, soybeans and corn.
Estrondo, which is made up of several farms, has been expanding into virgin areas close to inhabited areas, and in the past established checkpoints with armed security to restrict the movements and activities of residents, according to the same investigation.
Estrondo has been accused of land grabbing by the Attorney General of Bahia, an accusation against which she defends herself: since 2004 two of her management companies have been fined 125 million reais (24 million euros), partly for clearing land. unauthorized lands, the report adds.
Estrondo points out that the operations on its property comply with Brazilian environmental legislation, that the fines are being challenged and that around 50 million reais (9.2 million euros) have been paid.
Its spokespersons point out that its entire territory "has been legally constituted over more than 40 years," for which they cite notaries and government records. However, he added that he has been seeking a legal agreement on the transfer of titles related to a part of the heritage claimed by local communities.
However, local populations (geraizeros) have been complaining for years about cases of harassment and intimidation by armed men who work for the owners or tenants of Estrondo. As farmland has expanded the local population has been forced to limit grazing to restricted areas.
Farmer Adão Batista Gomes, 62, whose family has lived in the region for generations, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that his nephew was shot in the leg in 2019 by a man working for Estrondo while trying to recover detained livestock. by guards in a corral after entering an area claimed by the farm's farmers.
"They did it to scare us, to force us to give up that area," he said.
Estrondo stated that he "vehemently disapproves the use of any type of violence," according to Reuters.
The report includes testimonies from people affected by the expansion of industrial agriculture. The state of Bahia has not mapped all public lands to grant land rights to the traditional communities that inhabit them, which is a source of conflict.
Communities used to move their livestock freely among the trees and grasslands of the savannah, but that changed when the farm's first employees arrived in the 1980s, triggering multiple conflicts over ownership.
"They told us that the area belonged to the farm, that it was on the farm's map," says Batista Gomes. "Today everything is crops, everything was deforested."
While beef and soy are the main drivers of the loss of original vegetation on lands in the Cerrado, the impact of cotton on water supplies and the lack of protection of nearby communities is a major concern, he said David Cleary, agriculture director at The Nature Conservancy, cited by Reuters, and who was not involved in the Earthsight study.
Meanwhile, heavy use of pesticides in cotton cultivation is another threat to water supplies. Brazil, the largest buyer of pesticides in the world and is known for authorizing the use of chemicals banned in other countries.
But Cleary said agribusiness-driven development had also brought significant economic benefits to the region analyzed in the report, most notably a decline in infant mortality rates in some of the country's poorest rural areas.
The organization Earthsight highlights that weak monitoring of supply chains together with an ineffective certification system demonstrate the need to reform the cotton and fashion sectors. Call for ethical laws on the supply chain, such as the European regulation on imported deforestation from the European Union, which however does not include cotton as a raw material to be controlled.
He also criticizes the lack of effectiveness in the efforts of the private sector - specifically Better Cotton - to convince consumers that their practices are sustainable.
"The cotton that we linked to land rights and environmental abuses in Bahia carried the Better Cotton label," he said.
A key instrument would be the EU Business Due Diligence Directive on Corporate Sustainability, which should be ready shortly. Through it, large companies must identify and minimize adverse impacts on human rights. But the NGO fears that most companies will get around it.
The spokesperson for Better Cotton, which is associated with the Brazilian Cotton Producers Association (Abrapa), said the issues raised by Earthsight demonstrate a "pressing need for government support to address the issues brought to light" and implement the State of right.
Earthsight director Sam Lawson said: "It has become abundantly clear that crimes related to the products we consume must be addressed through regulation, not consumer decisions. That means lawmakers in consumer countries should put in place "Tough laws with strict enforcement. In the meantime, shoppers should think twice before purchasing their next cotton garment."
Meanwhile, Zara owner Inditex demanded more transparency from the certification body that tests some of the cotton used by the Spanish fashion company. Inditex sent a letter on April 8 to Better Cotton CEO Alan McClay in the that called for more clarity on the certification process and advances in traceability practices, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters.
Inditex said it had waited more than six months for the results of an internal Better Cotton investigation promised by the end of March and beginning in August 2023, according to the letter. The accusations "represent a serious violation of the trust placed in the Better Cotton certification process by both our group and our product suppliers," Inditex said in the letter. "The trust we place in these types of processes developed by independent organizations, like yours, is key to our supply chain control strategy."
The content of the letter was first published by Modaes, a fashion business news page. Inditex confirmed to La Vanguardia that it had sent the letter.
Inditex does not buy cotton directly, but its suppliers are audited by certifiers such as Better Cotton to guarantee good practices in obtaining their raw materials. Geneva-based Better Cotton, one of the world's largest certifiers of sustainable practices in the cotton industry, told Reuters it would provide more information in the coming weeks once it analyzed the results of the audit it had commissioned. Better Cotton stated on April 4 that it would not publish its findings until it had seen the full report from the NGO Earthsight. The certifier noted that its strategic partner in Brazil, the Brazilian Cotton Producers Association, was reviewing elements of its standards to align them with those of Better Cotton.
Created by businesses and several non-profit organisations, including the World Wildlife Fund, Better Cotton says it aims to support improved practices in areas such as water and land management and promote better labor standards.
Fashion retailers are facing increasing pressure from consumers and activist groups to sell products with lower environmental impact and made under safe working conditions.
