Paraguay: Follow-up report concludes that luxury carmakers BMW and Jaguar Land Rover are still sourcing deforestation-linked leather
In September 2020, the NGO Earthsight published a report revealing a link between illegal deforestation for cattle ranching in the forests of the Gran Chaco in Paraguay, including in a protected territory where the Ayoreo Totobiegosode people lives, and the leather used by the car makers BMW and Jaguar Land Rover.
Earthsigh launched a follow-up report in November 2021 called “Grand Theft Chaco II: The Vice Continues”, which reveals that Paraguayan authorities have failed to investigate the exposed illegalities, encouraging new illegal activity and, sometimes, even collaborating with it. The NGO also stated that the luxury carmakers "missed another opportunity to be more transparent about supply chain monitoring" and "are still unable to demonstrate how their supply chains are shielded from these problems".
The BHRRC invited BMW and Jaguar Land Rover to comment on the follow-up report. Only BMW answered.
Based on the response sent to the Resource Centre, Earthsight has developed further investigation "in order to verify BMW’s claims" during the first months of 2022. The organisation concluded: "Earthsight has not obtained from BMW evidence to support the automaker’s claim that our Paraguay leather investigation was ‘inaccurate’ ".