london some of europes biggest car giants including bmw and jaguar land rover use leather linked to deforestation in south america threatening the most vulnerable tribes environmental ngo earthsight said wednesday it claimed the automakers buy leather for vehicle interiors initially sourced from cattle ranching on illegally razed land in a part of paraguay that is home to one of the worlds last tribes with no contact with the outside world the londonbased organisation said the leather from the paraguayan gran chaco a region rich in biodiversity that is home to jaguars and giant anteaters enters the auto industry supply chains via italian tanneries advt the regions forests are being destroyed faster than any others in the world it noted our investigation highlights the urgent need for eu and uk legislation mandating car companies and other industries to conduct proper due diligence earthsight said in a lengthy report titled grand theft chaco however it revealed that trade groups linked to the automotive industry have lobbied the european union and german governments to water down or scrap proposed new laws to require companies to clean up their supply chains if they are to avoid being branded hypocrites the car giants must now come out in public support of meaningful regulations earthsight added if they dont it is essential european lawmakers stand firm against lobbying to the contrary the ngos investigation identified cattle ranches that have illegally cleared forest inhabited by the ayoreo totobiegosode said to be the only indigenous people living in voluntary isolation in the americas outside the amazon rainforest undercover visits during undercover visits it found paraguayan tanneries which supply italian counterparts bragging that they provide leather for a number of famous cars including bmw models and the range rover evoque bmw told the ngo that it had no information that its latin american leather supply chains were affected by the problems presented but that it was exploring options for extending traceability systems further advt the firm which owns the mini and rolls royce brands added that its mediumterm strategy is to phase out leather from the region altogether jaguar land rover said we take allegations of unlawful or unethical behaviour within our supply chain extremely seriously and have taken immediate action to investigate the points you have raised with the relevant suppliers earthsight noted that it was easiest to trace the leather being used by bmw because the german automaker had shown more concern over the source of their leather than most of their competitors but the ngo found no car firm was able to trace all of its leather back to ranches which it said was essential if links to human rights and environmental abuses are to be avoided alongside paraguay the auto industry is among the largest consumers of hides from brazil where cattle are the largest deforestation driver it said earthsight said the leather industry lags far behind other sectors such as palm oil and cocoa in the steps being taken to consider