and .

KAMPONG SPEU, Cambodia — “Going into the forest is harmful, some folks die when bushes fall on them, however they’re determined,” stated Saroeun*, a logger who makes a number of journeys every day into Central Cardamoms Nationwide Park in southwest Cambodia’s Kampong Speu province.

“They don’t know what else to do: if we don’t go to chop bushes, we don’t have cash,” he added. “I am going on daily basis and danger my life. I wrestle and must stick with my life within the forest.”

The timber that Saroeun illegally cuts and transports from the forest to his village of Kteh will change palms many instances, being purchased and offered till it involves relaxation in a garment manufacturing facility, probably in Kampong Speu province, neighboring Kandal province or additional afield in Phnom Penh. Whichever manufacturing facility buys the wooden, will probably be incinerated to generate thermal power used for steaming, washing, dyeing or ironing materials — probably as a part of a world style model’s provide chain.

However Saroeun has no manner of figuring out this from his picket stilted home on the outskirts of the forest, largely as a result of he’s insulated — and remoted — by the seemingly deliberate opacity of garment factories’ provide chain. He dangers life, limb and liberty every day to scrape by on the few {dollars}’ revenue he can eke out of forest crimes.

And whereas he’s a part of  who’ve been chopping, transporting and promoting timber to satisfy the calls for of Cambodia’s garment factories for many years, he’s simply one in every of lots of if not hundreds whose logging fuels the factories that style manufacturers purchase from.

The worldwide style {industry}, , isn’t any stranger to allegations that its huge income have come on the expense of forests worldwide. In November 2021, the nonprofit  in deforestation throughout the Amazon that was largely linked to opaque cattle provide chains feeding each the meat and style industries.

Past leather-based, different , have additionally been tied to the clearing of big tracts of forest to make manner for commodity plantations. In Cambodia, rubber plantations have seen  within the land disputes .

Even the style {industry}’s makes an attempt to cut back its sprawling environmental footprint have come beneath scrutiny, with a rising  having resulted within the  together with the destruction of different ecosystems to make manner for extra plantations.

Different environmental impacts of the style {industry} are extra direct.

Roughly a 3rd of the estimated 1,200 garment factories throughout Cambodia have been burning by way of a median of 562 metric tons of forest wooden on daily basis, utilizing it as gas for producing thermal power,  at Royal Holloway, College of London, who performed a research in 2021.

In 2019, worldwide sustainability-focused NGO GERES reported that  was sourced from pure forests. Based on GERES,  by Cambodian factories annually, releasing roughly 368,000 metric tons of carbon emissions into the environment within the course of. This makes up greater than 38% of the estimated 780,000 metric tons of wooden which might be burned by Cambodia’s industrial sector yearly, in response to GERES.

‘No upside, limitless draw back’ to better transparency

In Might 2023, Mongabay reached out to 881 garment factories throughout Cambodia to ask whether or not they used wooden as gas. All 881 factories have been listed as members of the  on the time.

However just one manufacturing facility responded, denying it was utilizing any wooden, authorized or in any other case, as a gas supply.

Reporters additionally despatched separate questions on to the 48 factories that have been recognized by the Royal Holloway researchers as utilizing forest wooden to gas their boilers.

Once more, Mongabay acquired only one response, once more denying the allegations, however providing little else.

Ken Bathroom, TAFTAC’s secretary-general, stated the shortage of responses was as a result of “Factories don’t trouble responding to journalists. No upside, limitless draw back.”

He added that it wasn’t essentially the subject of deforestation that factories needed to keep away from, however interactions with the press typically.

When requested if he felt Cambodia’s garment sector may gain advantage from better transparency, Bathroom replied “Probably not. Once more, no upside, limitless draw back. And what would occur if there was much less transparency? Nothing.”

However whereas Bathroom wouldn’t elaborate on what “limitless downsides” would possibly include, Cambodia’s garment sector has already confronted intense scrutiny from the European Union, which in February 2020 selected to  in response to human and labor rights abuses.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has dominated Cambodia since 1985,  from the EU. However even previous to the EU making any remaining choice, Cambodia’s garment sector has seen a roughly 20% drop within the worth of its exports between the primary 5 months of 2022 and 2023,  present.

With the  on April 19, the potential for this regulation’s scope —  — to broaden may see additional punitive measures taken because of the Cambodian garment sector’s refusal to acknowledge or handle its longstanding connection to unlawful deforestation.

Laurie Parsons, senior lecturer in human geography at Royal Holloway, stated  that the determine of 562 metric tons of forest wooden incinerated every day by Cambodian factories was probably an underestimate.

Reporters have been in a position to independently confirm using forest wooden in a handful of factories in Kampong Speu province by following loggers into the biodiverse, 402,352-hectare (994,233-acre) protected space of Central Cardamoms Nationwide Park, , being offered and resold, from province to province earlier than reaching garment factories.

However Parsons stated in a 2023 interview with Mongabay that the dimensions of the issue requires a top-down method.

“Within the case of the garment sector, the duty lies with the manufacturers who’ve the funds and capability to supervise gas use of their provide chains — and who finally revenue from claims of excellent environmental follow,” Parsons stated by e mail. “Manufacturers wish to cross the buck on to ‘associate’ factories themselves, however that is such a widespread difficulty that you could’t place the blame on any given manufacturing facility.”

Vogue manufacturers fall largely silent

Utilizing knowledge generated by Parsons, Mongabay reached out to 14 worldwide manufacturers that listed factories recognized throughout Parsons’ 2021 report as a part of their 2023 provide chains, to gauge the urgency with which style manufacturers view alleged unlawful deforestation inside their provide chains.

Goal Group, which reported $109 billion in income for 2022, , lots of them promoting attire and bedding. Based on its , Goal sources from 58 Cambodian factories. The dearth of element between particular manufacturers the group owns and the Cambodian factories they purchase from makes it troublesome to find out which factories present which merchandise to Goal Group, however 5 factories listed as suppliers of Goal in October 2022 have been additionally listed on Parsons’ knowledge set as utilizing forest wooden.

Goal Group didn’t reply to questions despatched by Mongabay. The  makes little point out of clothes, clothes or its attire manufacturers, however states “Goal will work actively with its distributors, suppliers and different stakeholders to implement our coverage by eliminating any unacceptable sources, and progressively rising the quantity of accountable wooden, paper, paper-based packaging and wood-based fiber over time.”

It stays unclear what Goal Group view as “unacceptable sources” though the scope of this coverage seemingly extends past simply packaging to cowl “all of Goal’s owned model merchandise and packaging containing a majority of wood-based materials.”

One other 5 factories that Parsons’ knowledge discovered to be utilizing forest wooden additionally appeared in British retailer Subsequent PLC’s . Subsequent PLC, which reported £823 million ($1.05 billion) in , didn’t reply to a request for remark from Mongabay.

However the  acknowledges dangers of deforestation amongst merchandise made utilizing timber and leather-based, with out mentioning the difficulty of wooden burned by the factories it sources its clothes and footwear from.

Likewise, VF Company,  Vans, Timberland, The North Face, Eastpak, JanSport and Supreme, to call just a few, didn’t reply to questions despatched by Mongabay about three factories that the . Out of the 49 factories listed by VF Company as Cambodian suppliers, three have been recognized as utilizing forest wooden by Parsons’ knowledge.

 is a Canadian firm that commerce information present has acquired shipments from Cambodia’s Hui Yuan Garment since 2019, with the final recognized cargo reported on July 17, 2022. Hui Yuan Garment is likely one of the factories that Mongabay reporters verified earlier this yr was utilizing forest wooden. It’s unclear whether or not Jammers nonetheless sources from Hui Yuan Garment, however the attire firm declined to reply questions despatched by Mongabay.

Equally, Hole Inc., C&A, Levi Strauss, Kiabi Vogue and Matalan didn’t reply to requests for remark, regardless of all having a minimum of one manufacturing facility listed as a present provider that was discovered to be utilizing forest wooden in 2021 by Parsons. British retailer , however repeated calls to each, in addition to submitting a request by way of , went unanswered.

A consultant of Inditex, the Spanish-owned , responded solely to inquire concerning the Cambodian manufacturing facility, saying it could verify to see if it was at present one in every of its suppliers. Inditex didn’t reply to questions put forth by reporters.

Primark, the Irish low cost style model, equally requested the names of the factories listed as utilizing forest wooden, “in order that we will examine this,” however didn’t reply particular questions on unlawful logging inside its provide chain by press time.

At press time, it was unclear whether or not Inditex or Primark had performed any investigation.

A lot of the knowledge that Mongabay used to trace manufacturers’ provide chains throughout Cambodia stems from every model’s willingness to publish their provider lists. Many accomplish that by way of the , an open-access database of provide chains that goals to assist make sense of the —  — opaque networks that make up world commerce.

“It’s a symptom of the best way the entire garment {industry} works: as a sequence of disintegrated manufacturing processes over which most manufacturers have little direct oversight and declare little or no duty,” stated Parsons of Royal Holloway when requested about how the opacity of style manufacturers’ provide chains impacts accountability with regards to deforestation.

“It’s an incredible association for lead agency income,” he added. “However a horrible one for environmental safety, in order that mindset wants to vary.”

As such, it’s simpler to scrutinize the manufacturers which have dedicated to importing their provider knowledge both to the Open Provide Hub or independently than it’s those who nonetheless refuse to make their supply of income public.

“With none legally mandated requirement for elevated transparency by factories or manufacturers in garment producing international locations, then it’s typically a lot simpler to not share knowledge,” stated one {industry} insider who requested anonymity as they weren’t licensed to talk to the press.

Many large manufacturers, similar to Walmart, proceed to cover this info from the general public, opting to not publish provider lists — though , through 2013 delivery knowledge, to know Walmart’s presence in Cambodia. Walmart didn’t reply to requests for remark .

However Walmart is only one instance, in response to the : out of 250 manufacturers surveyed, 48% disclosed their tier 1 factories, those who produce the ultimate merchandise for manufacturers.

However solely 32% of manufacturers surveyed revealed particulars of their processing amenities, and simply 12% launched their uncooked materials provider lists. As such, manufacturers that intentionally obfuscate their provide chains by refusing to publish knowledge typically discover they will higher escape accountability and scrutiny than those who abide by greatest practices relating to transparency.

Transparency? There’s an app for that

All the manufacturers that opted not to reply to Mongabay boast variations of commitments to environmentally aware or sustainable enterprise practices. Nonetheless, solely two of the 15 style corporations that reporters reached out to have been prepared to debate deforestation inside their provide chains.

Amongst these was Swedish conglomerate H&M Group, a pioneer of the  that has seen  — soar at the side of shifting tendencies. It has additionally confronted allegations that the  by advertising H&M Group’s merchandise as extra environmentally and socially sustainable than these of its opponents, .

A consultant for the Swedish model initially supplied reporters a tour of a manufacturing facility to see a boiler in motion, however that provide was rescinded after reporters requested being allowed to take images and converse to manufacturing facility employees unbiased of name representatives or manufacturing facility administration. H&M stated it was unable to discover a manufacturing facility that would accommodate these requests.

Reporters recognized 4 Cambodian factories  Group that have been discovered to be utilizing forest wooden in 2021, together with one manufacturing facility burning a mix of cashew wooden, forest wooden and clothes as gas for its boiler.

A spokesperson for H&M Group responded to questions from Mongabay with out referring on to the 4 factories, noting that the Swedish style large had launched a coverage in 2021 stopping the onboarding of latest factories that use cloth waste as gas whereas additionally serving to present suppliers discover replacements for burning cloth waste. This follow, regardless of releasing chemical substances poisonous to each employees and the setting, has . H&M Group maintained that none of its factories remains to be burning cloth waste as gas.

“Supporting factories to have the bottom environmental influence potential is vital to H&M Group’s sustainability work, and the Wooden AI app is one instrument in Cambodia to make sure this,” the spokesperson stated in an e mail to Mongabay.

Developed over two years  and piloted over the course of 2022,  was conceived by H&M Group in partnership with WWF to establish wooden species arriving at Cambodian garment factories, permitting manufacturing facility employees to reject deliveries of wooden recognized as pure forest wooden, which is extra more likely to have been sourced illegally.

The app requires employees at factories supplying to H&M Group to take three samples of wooden from every supply, rating a notch within the wooden utilizing a knife, after which look at the pattern with a macro lens hooked up to a smartphone. The photographs are then fed right into a database the place synthetic intelligence examines the samples and matches them up towards recognized species of wooden, thereby figuring out their legality.

“The Wooden AI app represents an vital contribution to addressing among the drivers which might be inflicting deforestation,” Neth Pheaktra, spokesperson for the Ministry of Setting, stated . “The Ministry encourages different clothes manufacturers to comply with this instance and likewise help efforts to save lots of pure forests and wildlife for the long-term profit of individuals and nature.”

Whereas attending an August 2022 press convention for the launch of Wooden AI, Pheaktra declined to reply questions on the necessity for the app and lack of sustainable timber provides in Cambodia, saying he “inspired folks to not use forest wooden.” However H&M Group’s spokesperson detailed the need of steps to handle the difficulty.

An unpublished 2021 report by GERES that was commissioned by H&M Group and seen by Mongabay stated that as much as 70% of wooden utilized in Cambodian garment factories, not simply those who H&M Group buys from, comes from authorized and unlawful sources, representing little change within the two years since GERES’s final public report on the difficulty. “However proving provenance is troublesome because of the unclear nature of certification and permits for authorized sources, and the overlapping wooden species included in each unlawful and authorized wooden sources,” stated H&M Group’s spokesperson.

Specifically, the spokesperson famous that the demand for forest wooden stems from the notion that it has a better calorific content material than plantation woods similar to cashew, acacia, mango or rubber bushes.

Nonetheless, a authorized distinction that applies particularly to the Cambodian context is the division of forest wooden: that which is illegally harvested from protected forests, and that which is legally cleared from financial land concessions or group forests.

“The rationale for the app’s existence is to beat this problem,” the spokesperson continued. “And it has subsequently been a robust success. Any piece of mango, acacia, rubber, tamarind or cashew tree is recognized as such, and some other wooden species will equally be flagged to not be accepted by our suppliers.”

Limitations to the answer

However whereas the Wooden AI app makes an attempt to result in transparency in an space the place the Cambodian garment sector has thrived in opacity, the success — or failure — of H&M Group’s initiative will “relaxation on the denial of sale on the factories,” in response to one regional researcher conversant in Cambodia’s garment sector who requested their identify not be revealed.

“Factories are being informed to form up, however middlemen who purchase and promote the wooden aren’t being saved within the loop,” the regional researcher stated, including that this might probably result in middlemen stacking forest wooden on the backside of their minivans, in order that when three items are taken as samples, they are going to probably come from the highest of the pile.

“These vans and vans arrive layered with wooden, it’s heavy, it’s arduous to verify past the primary or second layer,” they added. “Manufacturing unit homeowners can and can cheat the system as a result of it’s grim work.”

The chance that bad-faith actors might attempt to recreation the system is one which H&M Group stated it’s conscious of.

“No system is ideal,” H&M Group’s spokesperson stated. “However we’re assured that the instrument represents an enormous leap ahead in boosting transparency round biomass sources, and subsequently reduces the potential use of non-sustainable biomass sources.”

The extent of scrutiny utilized by the app, they added, far exceeds something at present seen in Cambodian factories, and the app’s utilization is monitored, permitting H&M to see what number of items of wooden have been scanned, whether or not this matches the variety of deliveries reported, and what stage of forest wooden is being detected compared to plantation wooden.

But even H&M Group conceded that the app’s effectiveness at phasing out forest wooden will hinge on factories coaching employees how one can use the app, in addition to engagement with the middlemen who present the wooden to ascertain clearer provide chains. However the app was by no means touted as a magic bullet. Even on the press convention in August 2022 launching Wooden AI, representatives from H&M Group and WWF introduced it extra as a instrument inside a toolbox.

To cut back the reliance on forest wooden would require correct distribution networks for sustainable biomass, H&M Group’s spokesperson stated, pointing to rice husks, cashew shells, sugarcane stalks and different agricultural waste merchandise.

There would additionally have to be a shift from wooden as gas to electrical energy, though garment factories are  by Electricité du Cambodge (EDC), Cambodia’s state-owned energy utility.

Nonetheless, a  by the Ministry of Mines and Vitality means that new tariffs may exchange the present system of month-to-month capability charges which were the bane of manufacturing facility homeowners and potential buyers hoping to capitalize on Cambodia’s potential for solar energy technology as a way to flee .

“The boundaries embody the price of electrical energy in comparison with biomass, the upfront price of changing present boilers with electrical methods, some technical limitations during which processes and steam-pressures there are good options for electrification for, and the disruption to manufacturing linked to energy cuts,” H&M Group’s spokesperson stated, including that this was felt significantly keenly amongst factories the place materials are washed or dyed because of the massive quantity of water wanted.

The {industry} insider, who requested anonymity, stated Cambodia’s electrical energy costs are among the highest in Asia, driving factories to cheaper gas sources like wooden. However they added that electrical boilers could be “completely possible.”

“How constructive the brand new guidelines are remains to be to be seen, because the twice-yearly pricing impacts a manufacturing facility’s capability to foretell power prices, and subsequently what to cost manufacturers for merchandise made,” they stated, including that energy buy agreements may very well be labored out by the federal government for factories to contract renewable power from the nationwide grid.

The regional researcher who additionally requested anonymity agreed with the {industry} insider’s evaluation that electrical boilers are possible. However they warned the instability surrounding Cambodia’s entry to the EU’s preferential buying and selling scheme has made extra manufacturing facility homeowners reluctant to purchase into newer, cleaner gear over fears they received’t be capable of recoup their investments.

Calculating the harm

“As a enterprise sourcing commodities from international locations the place these points [are] a danger, we acknowledge this risk and are working each inside our provide chain and throughout the sector to make sure the merchandise we promote are deforestation and conversion free,” wrote Danni Burnett, media relations supervisor at  chain that owns  and , in response to questions from Mongabay about deforestation inside Sainsbury’s provide chain.

“We performed investigations into suppliers which have been beforehand recognized and proceed to interact  and  on their sourcing practices for gas,” Burnett wrote, though it’s unclear what Sainsbury’s discovered or what, if any, actions it took.

Winsand Garment and Knitting Manufacturing unit, primarily based in Kandal province, was among the many 48 recognized by Royal Holloway’s Parsons as utilizing forest wooden in 2021. However reporters weren’t in a position to independently confirm whether or not it continued to make use of forest wooden as a gas supply. The manufacturing facility homeowners didn’t reply to questions posed by Mongabay.

Goldfame Star Enterprises, whereas not recognized as utilizing forest wooden by Parsons, is likely one of the largest factories in Cambodia and is broadly regarded by {industry} insiders as having the most important reliance on wooden, but no person appears to know the place the wooden comes from.

Neither makes an attempt to achieve , nor the contact particulars listed for Goldfame Star Enterprises in Cambodian Ministry of Commerce information yielded any response from the manufacturing facility, leaving the supply of its uniquely massive provide of timber troublesome to find out.

Burnett went on to element  that  that goal to curb deforestation inside its provide chain. She famous that, in 2021, Sainsbury’s introduced its own-brand merchandise can have provide chains free from deforestation and land conversion by 2025, albeit with a 2020 cutoff date.

“To ship this, we require all our garment suppliers to finish the Higg facility environmental module [Higg FEM],” she stated. “This helps us to know how our amenities measure and consider their environmental efficiency, together with the power sources that they use.”

In 2011, the  was created by the , an industry-led group, that goals to standardize the measures of sustainability inside provide chains by way of certifications throughout emissions, waste administration, power use, chemical administration, wastewater and different environmental administration methods.

The Higg FEM evaluation supplies every manufacturing facility with a rating out of 100 primarily based on how sustainable its environmental influence is deemed by the index’s standards.

Based on Angela Ng, director of Higg Facility Instruments on the SAC, there are some 400 factories throughout Cambodia which have adopted the Higg FEM instrument, with one other 60-80% extra participating with it annually.

“Sustainability points are within the highlight like by no means earlier than, and this needs to be welcomed,” Ng informed Mongabay through e mail.

Higher authorities oversight wanted

Nonetheless, when reporters requested Higg FEM scores of taking part factories in Cambodia, Ng and the SAC declined to share this knowledge — even in combination type to keep away from singling out particular person factories.

“We agree that singling out factories or manufacturers just isn’t the best way to drive productive industry-wide change,” Ng stated, including that the SAC had seen, on common, a 15% year-on-year enchancment amongst taking part Cambodian factories.

However the restricted transparency from the SAC makes it arduous to discern the place progress has been made, or from what baseline. Ng additionally conceded that, “In the intervening time the Higg FEM instrument doesn’t have in mind places of the place biomass is sourced from.”

As such, Cambodian factories at present obtain a greater Higg FEM rating for burning wooden — whether or not legally sourced from a plantation or illegally logged from a protected forest — than they might for changing to an electrical boiler and counting on mains electrical energy that’s largely sourced from fossil fuels.

Ng was fast so as to add that that is one thing the brand new and revised Higg FEM 4.0 seeks to handle.

“The primary distinction within the Higg FEM 4.0 is that we can seize, report and establish what number of amenities are utilizing biomass with no sustainable certificates, in addition to what sort of biomass they’re utilizing,” she stated.

For the {industry} insider, Higg FEM stays “the very best instrument the sector has” and famous that Higg FEM 4.0 will partially handle the difficulty of unlawful logging inside manufacturers’ provide chain. However, they added, “The place is the function of Cambodian authorities on this dialogue?”

Regardless of showing on the joint press convention in August 2022 for the launch of the Wooden AI app, Pheaktra, a former journalist turned authorities spokesperson, has since not responded to particular questions concerning the garment sector’s contribution towards the lack of Cambodia’s forests.

When informed of the silence reporters have been met with when contacting Pheaktra on the Ministry of Setting, the {industry} insider responded, “Once more, the place is the function of the Cambodian authorities in implementing its already present legal guidelines on forest clearance?”

“The consumption of wooden in Cambodia for thermal warmth, whether or not for clothes, bricks or ice is just making use of the out there sources,” they added. “It requires a stage of due diligence far past [corporate] compliance in Cambodia to make sure that globally understood guidelines of sustainably sourced biomass are met.”

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