Timberland joins Amazon leather protests
31/07/2009
Footwear brand Timberland has added its voice to the protests that have resulted from a controversial report on deforestation in the Amazon that Greenpeace published in June.
On July 23, Nike announced that it would impose new traceability systems and membership of the Leather Working Group, a scheme under which large user organisations (including Nike and Timberland) recognise good practice in large tanning groups, on its suppliers of leather in Brazil.
Greenpeace applauded Nike's action and immediately called on other members of the Leather Working Group to take similar measures. Timberland has now responded.
The footwear company says it is working closely with its suppliers in Brazil, including Bertin (which came in for special criticism in the Greenpeace report, which the tanning group dismissed as inaccurate and unfair), to make sure they have an action plan in place to show commitment to "an immediate moratorium on deforestation in the Amazon Biome (the Amazon rainforest and its related ecosystem), and of course refraining from sourcing products from indigenous or protected lands or entities that engage in slave labour".
All of Timberland's current Brazilian leather suppliers will also be required to commit publicly by August 15, 2009, to supporting an immediate moratorium on any further cattle expansion in territories near the rainforest. This commitment will include implementation of a traceability policy and monitoring. Tanning groups will also have to stop sourcing from farms that have deforested land in the area since July 2006.
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