Publications offer analysis and guidelines for the leather chain

The Beef on Track website has just uploaded four publications that refer to the leather value chain in the Amazon. The documents Analysis of Leather Certification - Systems and Recommendations, Needs and challenges for Traceability by Brazilian Tanneries and Analysis of Certification Systems for Leather  Production are technical reports produced by Imaflora's technical professionals, Álvaro Flores, Maria Guida Junges and Lisandro Inakake de Souza. The fourth document is an infographic on Traceability in the Brazilian bovine leather chain, ranging from the cattle farm, through to the slaughterhouses and tanneries to the market.

The publication Analysis of Leather Production Certification Systems describes and analyses three certification programs available for this chain - the Brazilian Leather Sustainability Certification Program (CSCB), the Leather Working Group (LWG), and Istituto di Certificazione della Qualità per l'Area Pelle.  The second publication, Traceability needs and challenges for Brazilian tanneries, records the results of the third stage of the leather value chain of the Beef on Track Program, which aims to encourage engagement with Leather Platforms so they can incorporate the monitoring criteria and verification guidelines of the Accountability Framework Initiative (AFi) in their certification schemes. 

The third document, Leather Certification Systems- Final Analyses and Recommendations, offers the final analyses and recommendations on leather certification systems, as part of the fourth stage of the chain, and suggests written recommendations for the inclusion of criteria and indicators related to the concept of deforestation and conversion-free chains. The publication initially gives a review of all the stages, recording the path taken.

The Beef on Track Program supports the improvement of monitoring, verification and reporting of tanneries that have signed social and environmental commitments or procurement policies, as well as the improvement of traceability protocols and standards in cooperation with Brazilian and international organisations.