'We are witnessing ecocide': Santander accused of funding vast deforestation

The Spanish bank has funnelled $600m to firms clearing South America's fragile Gran Chaco ecosystem for beef, palm oil and soya, Global Witness saysSergio Rojas recalls how, as a child, he would see bulldozers rolling into Argentina's Gran Chaco region, razing the forests to the ground and setting the felled trees alight. Animals would scatter and flee, with armadillos, deer, snakes and lizards darting across the ground in search of a new home.The forests of the Gran Chaco were also Rojas's home. He and his family, members of Argentina's Indigenous Qom community, lived a nomadic lifestyle in the forest, relying on the woodlands and rivers for shelter and food, relocating about every 20 days to allow the land to regenerate and recover. Continue reading...