Global collagen and meat industries are continuing to foster rampant deforestation and contribute to the rights violations of Indigenous communities in Paraguay’s Gran Chaco, one of South America’s last climate-critical forests, according to a new report from the environmental NGO Global Witness. Global Witness revealed that two of South America’s largest meat companies, Minerva Foods and Frigorífico Concepción, are directly supplied by a series of cattle farms responsible for more than 75,000 hectares (185,000 acres) of forest clearance in Paraguay’s Gran Chaco between 2021 and 2023 — an area roughly equivalent to the size of New York City. This follows investigations in previous years, like one Earthsight in 2020, that found the meat companies implicated in the same issues. The Global Witness report traced a portion of this deforestation to Rousselot, a leading global collagen manufacturer that purchased over 3,000 tonnes of cattle hides from Frigorífico Concepción since 2022. Products containing Rousselot’s collagen, like Peptan, are sold by international retailers such as Amazon and Costco. It is unclear exactly how much deforestation Rousselot is directly linked to through such purchases. Neither Minerva Foods nor Frigorífico Concepción responded to Mongabay’s requests for comment. But Darling Ingredients — Rousselot’s parent company — stated that the company is operating within the bounds of legality in the Paraguayan Gran Chaco. “We stand by our commitment to sourcing raw materials responsibly and sustainably,” the company said in a statement. Environmentalists also raise concerns about how a proposed delay to the upcoming EU anti-deforestation regulation could…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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South Africa Today – Environment
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