The French bank BNP Paribas has been put on notice by NGOs to stop its financial support for a Brazilian agrifood giant, which they accuse of contributing to deforestation, the grabbing of indigenous territories and forced labor, have- they announced Monday, October 17. “The Brazilian association Comissão Pastoral da Terra (CPT) and the French association Notre Affaire À Tous (NAAT), supported by the North American NGO Rainforest Action Network, sent a formal notice to the French bank BNP Paribas in for its financial support of Marfrig, Brazil’s second largest meatpacking company”the statement said.
This formal notice, the first to target a bank, is the prerequisite for possible legal action by NGOs. Since 2017, the French law on “duty of care” requires large companies to take effective measures to prevent human rights and environmental abuses throughout their supply chain.
According to the law, companies given formal notice have a period of three months to meet their obligations and possibly dialogue with NGOs. The latter can then consider a summons before the Paris court. “Marfrig beef suppliers are believed to have been responsible for more than 120,000 hectares of illegal deforestation in the Amazon rainforest and Cerrado savannah” between 2009 and 2020, say the NGOs, citing an analysis by the Center for Climate Crime Analysis (CCCA).
“Marfrig has, directly and indirectly, sourced livestock from herders who illegally raise their animals on indigenous territories”notably Apyterewa, in the state of Pará (northern Brazil). “Marfrig also sourced its livestock from farms involved in slavery-like practices, including forced labor and debt bondage”the statement added.
For Jérémie Suissa, general delegate of Notre Affaire À Tous, quoted in the press release, the banks “can no longer pretend they don’t know their funding…is actively fueling climate chaos, biodiversity collapse, indigenous land grabbing and slavery-like practices”.