Posted on October, 12 2018

WWF’s engagement with global corporations & the private sector has become increasingly important, with the necessity to balance economic development and conservation efforts in Cambodia. One of WWF-Cambodia’s newest projects, the “Supply Chain and Landscape Approach in the Eastern Plains Landscape of Cambodia” (SCALE) attempts to do just that through a partnership with H&M, a large garment retailer that has numerous manufacturing facilities in Cambodia.
 
The project is designed to contribute to the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) by promoting the use of sustainable energy materials in the textile industry and supporting the resilience of ecosystem services through a landscape/jurisdictional sourcing approach in the Eastern Plains Landscape (EPL).
 
SCALE is currently in its initial phase of implementation which takes steps in attempting to solve the current challenges in H&M’s supply chain. These include addressing current CO2 emissions, an untraceable supply of wood materials, potential contribution to the high rate of deforestation in Cambodia, and limited environmental regulations coupled with low enforcement capacity which fails to effectively govern the impact of the garment manufacturing sector on conservation efforts.
 
There is a lot of potential for SCALE to make positive changes in the garment manufacturing industry and improve the sustainability of retailer supply chains. Watch this space for more updates on this exciting new project!