RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE

Timely action by major leather buyers has, hopefully, prevented vast acres of the Amazonian rain forest from being further destroyed.

Big brand names, such as Nike, Timberland, Marks & Spencer, were made aware of the potential ecological catastrophe, local NGOs nudged them into recognition that a problem existed and, whoa, many major leather industry players undertook NOT to buy product originating from this area. Some say the fashion industry gave in too quickly, too eagerly: labeling themselves as easy targets for the next ‘big threat’ coming down the pike.

What do you think? Has prompt action averted a crisis? Or was the threat overblown by NGOs to justify their existence? From the perspective of a company/ brand name, what would you have done? What was the ‘proper’ response in your opinion?

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Reply from others (3)

yes i do belive that

Whether prompt action has been effective will only be known if proper tracing can be developed and we can be sure that Brazilian hides are not being smuggled out other ways.
The issue is firmly on the Agenda of all environmental discussions so will not go away.
It has also raised the discussion of the carbon footprint of cattle which is very high expecially if grain fed. I think we need a disccusion on pasture fed beef versus grain fed as the former appears very good for CO2 sequestration and could be a saviour for the meat industry and the planet.

The threat was completely overblown by Greenpeace. With the benefit of six months of hindsight this is more than apparent. Read the crituque of this not-so-truthful episode by going to:

http://www.fashionnetasia.com/en/IndustryNews/BusinessResources/Detail.html?id=1240

And as Alexa Young implies, the leather industry caved in too quickly when evidence such as the video presented by Greenpeace would simply have been "thrown out of court" for omitting slaint facts about the environmental problems in the Amazon rainforest.

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