Source: Greenpeace UK
Back at the end of last year, while politicians were talking about the importance of forests in the run up to the Copenhagen Climate Conference, we were busy taking on the single biggest cause of rainforest destruction worldwide – the expansion of the Brazilian cattle industry.It seemed like it was going to be a pretty tough nut to crack, so we dug in our heels and prepared for a long fight to get lasting change at the heart of the Amazon rainforest.
But sometimes events surprise you. Completely unexpectedly, within months of the campaign starting, and following thousands of Greenpeace supporters taking action, the issue was making serious progress.
Our supporters and campaigners put shoe brands including Nike, Timberland, Adidas and Clarks, and UK food giant Princes, under serious pressure to take responsibility for making sure that leather and beef in their products was not bought from farmers actively destroying the forest. And it worked.
The big brands threatening to move their business elsewhere led to an extraordinary agreement from the biggest cattle companies in the world, to not buy from farms that destroyed the rainforest. It was a really swift result, although it's worth remembering that what seemed like rapid change was based on 10 years of Greenpeace work in the Amazon, and a 3 year long investigation into the cattle industry.
But getting companies to agree to change the way their do business is only half of the story. To make sure that they backed up their words with action, we set some deadlines for the cattle companies to meet, with the first test of their commitment being set for April. Disappointingly, all of the companies came back with excuses. None of them had met the deadline.
And so, as campaigners, we were faced with a difficult dilemma. Should we keep expecting change from the cattle companies, or should we assume that they just weren’t taking the issue seriously? It took a lot of careful thinking and negotiating, but we eventually decided to give them a little more time.
We think that with enough pressure from their customers we can give them the push they need to get them back on track. But it might not work. And if it doesn’t we'll need your help again. We’ve seen from the recent Nestle campaign that our supporters can bring serious pressure to bear on big corporations. Our message to the cattle companies is clear - this is the last chance to prove they are serious about saving the Amazon.