Soy isn’t the only crop ruining the Cerrado’s forests. Cotton fields also contribute to the disappearance of this wooded savannah, a precious carbon dioxide sink, which covers more than 1.5 million square kilometers. In his investigation “Fashion Crimes. European giants linked to the Brazilian cotton scandal”, published Thursday April 11, the British organization Earthsight denounces the flaws of the intensive cultivation of this white gold, which, from Brazil, is exported to Asia to make Inditex jeans , owner of Zara, the world’s number one clothing company, and H&M.
The environmental defense association has already looked into the responsibility of brands in the destruction of natural environments; in 2021, she investigated the wood used by Ikea and the FSC label supposed to guarantee sustainable forest management.
In Brazil, twelve months of investigation, data analysis, minutes, viewing of satellite images and interviews with farmers have established that two major Brazilian cotton producers, Grupo Horita and SLC Agricola, are profit from illegal deforestation, carried out in the western part of the State of Bahia, and export their bales by obtaining Better Cotton (BC) certification, a label supposed to guarantee the consumer the “best cotton”, in Zara and H&M stores.
Illegal clearings
The three authors managed to establish, based on judgments and fines imposed by Brazilian public authorities, that these two firms exploit fields created through illegal land clearing. In the west of the state of Bahia, SLC Agricola, Brazil’s leading cotton producer, operates 44,000 hectares of cotton plantations. Grupo Horita owns 140,000 hectares in the region, alternating between cotton, corn and soy crops.
“In 2014, the environmental agency of the State of Bahia estimated that 25,153 hectares exploited by Horita were illegal deforestation”, argues the NGO. In 2020, the same agency estimated that “11,700 hectares cleared by the firm between 2010 and 2018” had not been the subject of any authorization, she adds, calculating at “more than twenty” the number of fines imposed on Horita, between 2010 and 2019, for an amount of 4.5 million dollars (4.2 million euros). SLC would also be behind the deforestation of thousands of hectares, in 2022, in one of its farms, according to the NGO.
The expansion of cultures took place at the expense of the public domain. Particularly in the municipalities of Correntina and Formosa do Rio Preto, where, despite a policy to protect the environment, thousands of hectares of forest have disappeared in favor of large fields, suggests Earthsight.
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