Chanel's "environmentally conscious" mask: How the company exploited a protected area of Madagascar

    Chanel is synonymous with "luxury" for many people across the world, but in Madagascar they were just another group trying to exploit an already impoverished people. In 2019, under the guise of environmental consciousness and "artisanal" mining, Chanel partnered with the local conservation NGO Fanamby to responsibly mine in a protected area. 
    The area Chanel targeted is called Loky Manambato, and is a IUCN Level V protected area. A level V protected area is a protected landscape or seascape in which the relationship between people and nature is mutually beneficial and both culture and nature need to be protected together. This means that people living in these protected areas continue to use natural resources in ways that do not negatively impact the environment itself. Chanel decided to take advantage of the fact that the land had large amounts of gold and that they could hire the locals to mine for them. This was done under the guise of "artisanal" mining. It was meant to be more ethical and better for the environment.
     The issue with this is that  Loky Manambato is home to several lemur species, as well as many other animals that are endangered. The mining areas and villages were often in the middle of some of the richest, highest integrity areas in the protected area. Increased human presence can cause many disturbances for lemurs, as well as increase potential damage to their habitats. 
    Chanel maintains that they never sourced any gold from Loky Manambato. Any plans for this were thrown away since export of gold was banned by the Malagasy government in 2020. This however resulted in a situation that left everyone in a bad situation. There were no more gold mining jobs in the area for the locals, and all the work they did was for nothing, and damage to the surrounding nature was not actually avoided. Chanel looked to loopholes to find a way to be "sustainable and responsible," which leaves us wondering how many companies do the same? How many resources come from exploit of people and nature disguised as sustainability? The fortress model of conservation may not be the ideal, but neither is massive companies exploiting a place that is meant to be protected. 

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