As part of a three year Greenpeace investigation ‘Slaughtering the Amazon’, examining the market links of beef and leather from cattle grazing on illegally deforested lands in the Amazon, Ecostorm helped to expose a vital link between high street trainers and the destruction of this unique forest.
Working undercover, an Ecostorm team infiltrated the tanneries and shoe factories that produce Nike, Reebok, Adidas and other international shoe brands in South East Asia. During this investigation Ecostorm was able to prove that much of the leather used in these high street brands is sourced from slaughterhouses and processing plants in Brazil, that in turn source cattle from illegal ranches, one of the key drivers responsible for deforestation in the heart of the Amazon.
UPDATE: As a direct result of the Greenpeace investigation, all the major suppliers and shoe brands have carried out exhaustive surveys of their suppliers, and vowed to discontinue sourcing leather from the Amazon.
More from The Guardian on the Amazon deforestation.
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