WWF - Asian Pulp and Paper

Not much protected and no commitment to restoration in APP forest promises

2013-04-03

Jakarta, Indonesia – The much-touted new deforestation policy of controversial paper giant Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) will save almost no forests in its main base of operations, Sumatra, Indonesia, a new report by NGO coalition Eyes on the Forest has concluded.

APP and Sinar Mas announced the policy in February as "an end to the clearing of natural forest across its entire supply chain in Indonesia, with immediate effect." However, a new Eyes on the Forest (EoF) analysis that looks at all APP concessions – including those not covered by the moratorium - in Riau Province, Sumatra, found that the policy protects at most 5,000 hectares of natural forest. This compares to the deforestation of more than 2 million hectares caused by the operation of APP's Sumatra pulp mills over the past three decades.

"We're extremely disappointed. When APP published the policy, we thought it could be great news for Indonesia's forests, biodiversity and citizens," said Nazir Foead, Conservation Director of WWF-Indonesia. "However, after this new analysis for Sumatra, it appears that the company has announced a halt to deforestation only after completing nearly all the deforestation it could possible do."

Among APP's many natural forest wood sources are the concessions of its suppliers in Riau Province. They alone lost more than 680,000 hectares of natural forest between the start of the company's Riau pulp mill in 1984 and 2012. Of that, 77% was lost in legally questionable ways, while an even larger proportion - 83% - consumed the habitat of critically endangered Sumatran tigers and elephants.

WWF called on APP and Sinar Mas to announce a forest restoration commitment.

"The company is asking for a grand amnesty, for the 'past to be forgotten', leaving our country to deal with devastated ecosystems, social conflicts, on-going greenhouse gas emissions and critically endangered species who lost their habitat," says Aditya Bayunanda, GFTN and pulp & paper manager of WWF Indonesia. "That is not acceptable, Indonesian NGOs are calling on APP to restore selected peatlands and forests lost in protected, High Conservation Value areas and to mitigate the damage its operations caused to surrounding natural forests, peat soils, and wildlife."

Eyes on the Forest also highlights that SMG/APP's much advertised High Conservation Value assessments are to be conducted in concessions where planned clearing is complete and the remaining forests are already protected by law or APP's previous commitments.

"Without a restoration commitment, these assessments have little meaning," adds Bayunanda.

The report also shows that, despite previous company promises to exclusively pulp plantation fiber by 2004, 2007 and 2009, the company's rate of deforestation remained constant between 1995 and 2011, apart from a short period in 2007-2009 when authorities were investigating alleged illegal logging by the industry, including APP wood suppliers. The rate slowed in 2012 – for the sole reason that there was very little natural forest left to cut.

"Our analysis points to one conclusion: APP once again seems to hope that it can fool people into imagining huge conservation benefits while overlooking past transgressions," said Hariansyah Usman of WALHI Riau. "We don't see the policy's potential future conservation benefits balancing in any way the many unresolved issues stemming from APP's deforestation legacy."

"Eyes on the Forest highlights that only full disclosure of all activities, including the status of all existing and planned wood supply bases and all mill expansion plans can prove whether this policy contains any real conservation benefits."

Last week, NGOs in Kalimantan, on the Indonesian side of Borneo, found continued logging of tropical forest taking place in the concessions of two APP wood suppliers, who are supposed to be bound by the February deforestation moratorium.

A serious red flag to WWF is the fact that APP's mills continue to accept and pulp natural forest timber, under the claim that it was felled before the moratorium started on 1 February 2013. WWF-Indonesia calls on APP to close this loophole since it could be used by suppliers to feed wood into the mills from new deforestation, in violation of the policy. WWF has proposed a May 5 deadline to end their mills' acceptance of natural forest timber, allowing the company over 3 months to transport stockpiles of wood cleared before February.

"WWF recommends that paper buyers do not rush into doing business with APP", says Rod Taylor, Director of Forests at WWF International. "APP cannot be regarded as a responsible producer without redressing the harm caused by its past operations and removing any doubt that wood linked to forest clearing can enter its mills."

EoF published analyses of the report on its interactive online map, based on Google Earth's Maps Engine platform, allowing stakeholders to evaluate some of the aspects of APP's new forest policy and monitor its implementation. EoF will update its database regularly as information from other provinces and new details about existing concessions becomes available.

For further information please contact:

Aditya Bayunanda, WWF-Indonesia. +62 8182 65588, abayunanda@wwf.or.id

Diah R. Sulistiowati, WWF-Indonesia, +628111004396, dsulistiowati@wwf.or.id

Chris Chaplin, WWF-International. +86 13911747472, cchaplin@wwf.sg

APP suppliers pulping new bid for sustainability credentials in Kalimantan?

2013-03-27

Pontianak, West Kalimantan – NGO observers have claimed that pulp timber suppliers to controversial paper giant Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) are continuing to log tropical forest and dig drainage canals through peat soils in Kalimantan, regardless of the new Forest Conservation Policy (FCP) launched with much fanfare by APP and parent group Sinar Mas last month.

APP, noting that the suppliers have denied breaching requirements of the FCP, is investigating a complaint lodged by the Consortium of Kalimantan's Forest Monitoring NGOs (RPHK)

Over the same period that heavy machinery was apparently engaged in logging and dredging on the two concessions , representatives of both APP and the two supplier companies hosted a meeting 80 km away in provincial capital Pontianak to convince sceptical local NGOs that the FCP was not yet another company greenwashing stunt.

APP has previously announced an end to tropical forest pulping in 2004, 2007 and 2009. On February 5 it hosted a gala announcement that it had halted tropical forest clearing on its own and independent supplier concessions throughout Indonesia on January 31, with heavy equipment impounded pending independent assessment of conservation values and above ground carbon.

RPHK members, who were among those present at the February 26 meeting in Potianak, lodged a complaint on the basis of extensive photographic and video evidence of the work on concessions of PT Asia Tani Persada (ATP) and PT Daya Tani Kalbar (DTK), two of the four companies disclosed by APP as West Kalimantan suppliers to its mills in devastated Sumatra.

RPHK observers familiar with the areas of the two concessions said they contained orang-utan habitat. The promised assessments would have examined whether and where orang-utans are still present.

"We are really concerned to see how heavy equipment is still actively clearing natural forest, digging peat canals and clearing the land in the two supplier's concessions in West Kalimantan. This is a clear violation of the APP's FCP that APP socialized in Pontianak on 26 February," said Baruni Hendri, a spokesperson of the RPHK consortium.

"Our findings showed that APP is not taking their conservation policy seriously, thus making RPHK doubt APP's seriousness on the implementation of their commitment."

APP has issued a statement that "Our policy is clear - there would be no natural forest clearance anywhere in our supply chain and every supplier has been advised of he policy details."

"We contacted the suppliers and both have strongly indicated that they are not in breach of our policy and that the likely cause is concession boudaries that overlap with other industries."

WWF-Indonesia, a member of RPHK with local NGOs, has called on APP and its parent, the giant Sinar Mas Group, to quickly close a loophole allowing mills to continue accepting "stockpiled" mixed tropical hardwoods for an indefinite period, nominating May 5 as giving ample time to clear stockpiles. The evidence of current clearing vindicates concerns that freshly cleared timber will continue to be "laundered" into pulp mills.

"We call on global buyers of pulp and paper to remain skeptical and await independent verification by independent NGOs of the credible field implementation of APP's FCP before making any new purchasing decision," said Anton P. Wijaya, Director Executive of WALHI (Friends of Earth Indonesia) chapter West Kalimantan.

Member groups of the Consortium of Kalimantan Forest Monitoring Volunteers (RPHK) able to provide information in English are WWF-Indonesia (Contact : Ian Hilman, +6282121868624, ihilman@wwf.or.id), and TITIAN, an active biodiversity conservation institute for local community sustainable benefits in West Kalimantan (Contact Director, Sulhani +62561-6589198). Other member groups include AKAR, an illegal wildlife crime monitoring network in Borneo, actively raising public awareness about the importance of wildlife protection and their habitat; JPIK Kalimantan Barat, a civil society network that focuses on monitoring effort of the sustainable forest management for Forest Plantation Wood Production Permit; Link-AR Borneo (Lingkaran Advokasi dan Riset), a civil society organization focus on advocacy based on research or investigation related to land plunder and biodiversity degradation, as well as community empowerment ( www.linkarborneo.com); SAMPAN (Sahabat Masyarakat Pantai), a civil society organization focus on advocacy for costal and watershed communities (www.sampankalimantan.org) and LEMBAH, an active institute in Bengkayang District for social and economic empowerment based on environment.

Photos and videos of this issue can be accessed through:
www.linkarborneo.com and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o54C3jf6PLYRPHK.

WWF welcomes APP announcement to halt clearing, urges paper buyers to wait for proof

2013-02-05

JAKARTA – WWF welcomed the announcement that the Sinar Mas Group's Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) have stopped clearing Indonesia's tropical forests and peatlands to allow an assessment of their conservation and carbon values. But the conservation organization urged paper buyers to wait for confirmation of the claims through independent monitoring by civil society before doing business with APP.

"APP today committed to most of WWF's calls. If the company follows through on this, it could be great news for Indonesia's forests, biodiversity and citizens," said Nazir Foead, Conservation Director of WWF-Indonesia.

"Unfortunately, APP has a long history of making commitments to WWF, customers and other stakeholders that it has failed to live up to. We hope this time the company does what it promised. WWF plans to independently monitor APP's wood sourcing and forestry activities for compliance with its commitments and regularly update stakeholders on the findings," Foead added.

APP runs two of the world's largest pulp mills on Sumatra, where it produces the pulp for the toilet paper, tissue, copy paper and packaging that it sells worldwide. The company and its wood suppliers are responsible for clearing more than 2 million hectares of rain forest on the island since beginning operations in 1984, an analysis by the NGO coalition Eyes on the Forest found.

"WWF hopes that APP's new commitments will do more than just stop its own bulldozers, including protecting the natural forests in its concessions from all illegal activities and mitigating the long-term negative impacts its practices have had on all the peat lands, forests, biodiversity and local people in Sumatra and Borneo for which these commitments have come too late," Foead added.

"WWF has long called on responsible businesses to avoid sourcing from APP and until there is truly independent confirmation that APP has stopped draining peat soils and pulping tropical forests with high conservation value, we continue to urge paper buyers to adopt a wait for proof stance," said Aditya Bayunanda, GFTN and pulp & paper manager of WWF Indonesia.

Mr Teguh Widjaya, the patriarch of the family's pulp and paper business, oversaw the announcement today that no member of his APP group operating in Indonesia or China will accept any tropical timber felled in Indonesia after 31 January 2013 until company consultants have completed a full "high conservation value" and a "high carbon stock" assessment of their forest concessions.

However, the company inserted a loophole in the commitment saying that for an indefinite period of time APP mills would accept trees felled before 31 January.

As a sign of good faith and the first demonstrable milestone, WWF calls on APP to have moved the supply of already-cut tropical timber its suppliers cleared before the self-imposed 31 January 2013 moratorium by 5 May 2013, the due date of its next quarterly forest policy report.

A fully implemented moratorium on pulping forests with high conservation and high carbon value would have a profound impact on Indonesia's biodiversity, as well as on Indonesia's carbon emissions. WWF urges all of the country's pulp producers to stop using tropical forests.

Tropical pulp still a long way from fiction in German children's books

2012-12-20

Gland, Switzerland – German book publishers have only marginally improved performance in excluding paper pulp sourced through destruction of tropical forests that are home to critically endangered elephants, tigers and orang-utans.

A WWF-Germany survey of children's books found about 30 per cent of books contained significant amounts of mixed tropical hardwood fibres characteristic of natural forest destruction. A 2009 children's book survey found mixed tropical hardwood fibres in 40% of German children's books from one third of the publishing houses sampled.

Children's books linked to forest destruction included titles such as the Rainforests book from The Magic World of Knowledge series and This is the Forest.

WWF attributes the low rate of improvement to increased production of books in China and large scale sourcing of pulp from deforestation in Indonesia and other tropical forest countries.

Indonesia's largest pulp and paper company, Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), linked with its suppliers to the destruction of more than 2 million hectares of tropical forest in Sumatra, directly operates 20 pulp and paper mills in China with an annual production of eight million tonnes.

"Germany's publishers have been amazingly slow to react despite the highlighting of their involvement in forest destruction in 2009," said Emmanuelle Neyroumande, Manager of WWF´s global paper programme.

The global conservation organization renewed its call for responsible sourcing by publishing houses worldwide. "Recycled or appropriately certified pulp and paper sources are all avenues available for companies wanting to end their involvement with tropical forest destruction," said Neyroumande.

WWF applauded the decision of one major publisher to use Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified sources from now on. Some publishing houses, including Holtzbrinck-Group, Kosmos Verlag Lingen Verlag or Oetinger Verlag had committed to recycled or FSC certified paper sourcing since the initial WWF survey, with Random House Germany being a pioneer in responsible sourcing from even earlier.

"Offering books to children is a great gift, but no parent and grandparent wants to place books contributing to forest destruction under the Christmas tree and therefore the publishing houses need to source responsibly and influence their suppliers," said Neyroumande.

Banks and funds put on notice on Sumatra pulp mill investment risk

2012-11-14

Banks and other financial institutions have been asked for assurances they will not provide investment support to Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) plans for additional pulping capacity in already massively deforested Sumatra.

A letter to financial institutions, signed by 60 environmental and social non-governmental organisations, highlights that APP's record on keeping promises to investors is as bad as its record on keeping to a series of commitments to abandon its assault on native forests housing critically endangered Sumatran tigers and elephants.

"We believe that potential investors should be as concerned with APPs practices as the major companies no longer buying paper and packaging materials from the company," said WWF International Forest Programme director Rod Taylor.

"If potential reputational risk is not enough, alarm bells should ring over the company's default on nearly $US14 billion of debt in 2001 and the company's current conduct in US courts over meeting obligations to some of its former investors."

APP's new mill would produce between 1.5 and 2.0 million tonnes per year of bleached hardwood pulp, making it the largest single pulp line in the world. Respected Sumatra NGO coalition Eyes on the Forest has estimated that APP and supplier companies have already pulped more than two million hectares of natural rainforests in Riau province Sumatra alone.

The letter highlights APP's failures to honor environmental covenants given during restructuring of some of its debt and to the continuing loss of major customers (such as Disney, Hasbro, Mattel, Unilever, Nestle, Danone, Xerox, Mondi) as a result of concerns about its deforestation practices, community conflict and business and reputational risks to buyers.

"Indonesia is a potentially promising place to conduct investment in pulp and paper, with its humid climate and year-long sunlight which enables pulp wood to mature much quicker compared to subtropical countries, unfortunately this is being brought into disrepute by the destructive practises of APP which continues to rely on natural forest clearing for its pulp supply," said WWF Indonesia's Conservation Director, Nazir Foead.

APP's latest promise no more than protecting already protected forest

2012-07-25

Pekanbaru, Sumatra; Gland, Switzerland: The "sustainability roadmap" issued recently by controversial Indonesia deforester Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) dramatically backtracks on a series of promises it has made – and broken - previously, an analysis by the Riau NGO coalition Eyes on the Forest has found.

"We were abundantly justified in not trusting their 2004 Sustainability Action Plan promise to cease native forest pulping by 2007 and responsible paper buyers or consumers should be dismayed that nearly a decade later, APP's latest Sustainability Roadmap doesn't even promise to go that far by 2015," said Muslim Rasyid, coordinator of Eyes on the Forest member Jikalahari (Forest Rescue Network, Riau).

Part of the giant Sinar Mas Group (SMG), APP announced in early June that it would temporarily halt clearing of natural forest in only its "own" concessions while it conducts assessments for forests of high conservation values, an industry practice that conservation groups have long called for APP to do.

"Our analysis found there is no natural forest left to apply their new policies to in Riau Province, since all natural forest in their 'own' concessions had either already been cleared or protected under Indonesian law or APP showcase commitments which are also mostly nothing more than confirmation that the company would obey the law," said Rasyid. "We believe that APP's new policies offer no conservation benefit for any forest outside Riau either."

The Eyes on the Forest analysis APP/SMG: The pulping continues finds "the fate of up to 1.2 million hectares, more than half of Riau's remaining forest, remains in danger of being cleared by APP/SMG's so-called "independent suppliers" who can continue to deliver natural forest wood to the company's mills unaffected by the new forest policies."

These forests include some of the last refuges of the critically endangered Sumatran tiger and elephant, as well as forests on carbon-rich deep peat, whose clearing will lead to very high carbon emissions for decades to come.

"This so-called roadmap to sustainability is just another element of APP's investment in greenwashing, rather than greening," said Rod Taylor, Director of the WWF International Forests Programme. "This is not a roadmap to sustainability, but a roadmap to pulp more of Indonesia's forests."

Not only is APP backtracking from the broken sustainability commitments of 2004 and 2007, it also appears to be moving back from commitments made just a year ago in its "Vision 2020, a roadmap to guide sustainability principles, goals and program."

In this announcement, APP said it would "source 100 percent of its pulpwood supply from sustainable plantation stock by the end of 2015". The 2012 roadmap switches terminology from "100 per cent sourcing" to "100 per cent capability" with the introduction of a new loophole for "Mixed Tropical Hardwood (MTH) waste & residues".

"APP/SMG: The pulping continues" includes photographic evidence of clearfelled rainforest areas APP calls "waste and residues.

Eyes on the Forest members including WWF and Walhi Riau are calling on APP and SMG to immediately stop natural forest wood from forest conversion entering any of its pulp mills.

"Until APP makes this commitment and finds a way to demonstrate it is not just yet another empty promise, its financiers, paper buyers and paper consumers need to maintain and extend their own growing moratorium on dealing with APP," said Hariansyah Usman, Executive Director of Walhi Riau.

Latest APP promise more greenwash than protection

2012-05-22

An Asia Pulp and Paper promise for a moratorium on natural forest logging in directly owned concessions needs to cover what goes into its mills rather than what comes off already mostly cleared areas, according to WWF.

"APP once again has chosen to invest in greenwashing instead of meaningful change in the face of increasing and widespread condemnation of its forestry practices," said Nazir Foead of WWF-Indonesia. "Our analysis suggests that this limited moratorium will have little impact, since APP has already cleared 713,383 hectares or almost all of the natural forest in its own and affiliated concessions in Riau."

In a statement released last Tuesday APP announced that from June 1st it would suspend the clearance of natural forest on APP owned concessions in Indonesia to allow High Conservation Value Forest HCVF assessments to be conducted.

The latest promise doesn't even come close to the levels APP committed to in 2004, 2007 and 2009; all three times APP missed self-imposed deadlines of supplying its pulp mills exclusively from renewable plantation wood.

WWF has calculated that if APP abides by the promises made in its recent announcement it may save 22,000 ha compared to the more than two million hectares of natural forest and endangered tiger habitat pulped since 1984.

Just over 103,000 hectares of the remaining natural forests are forests that are already designated or by regulation must be protected.

"To be a meaningful commitment APP must immediately commit to stop clearing natural forests and accepting all natural forest fibre into its mills until areas of high conservation value have been independently and transparently identified and protected. We are conducting further analysis into this statement and its implications, in the meantime," WWF said in a statement.

WWF ceased engagement with APP in 2004 after the company failed to honour commitments to improve sustainability.

In March of this year it was discovered that APP had decimated tropical forests it promised to conserve under "legally binding" debt restructuring in 2004.

Using satellite imagery the report by Sumatra based NGO coalition; Eyes on the Forest found that within three years of making the agreement, APP's wood suppliers began clearing areas of high conservation value forest in central Sumatra's Pulau Muda, a rain forest in the Kerumutan tiger landscape.

A footprint of a Sumatra tiger was found in one of the cleared areas.

APP is one of the world's largest pulp & paper companies and markets products in more than 65 countries.

APP's pulp production in Indonesia is based in the Riau and Jambi provinces in central Sumatra, one of the most biologically diverse landscapes on Earth and one of the last refuges for the critically endangered Sumatran elephant, tiger and orang-utan. All face local extinction in the area because of massive habitat loss.

APP's double default on creditors

2012-03-27

European, Japanese taxpayers unwittingly underwrite continued
forest and tiger habitat destruction.

Pekanbaru, Sumatra; Gland, Switzerland: Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) has been accused of a "double default" on international creditors, after an investigation revealed that the company has decimated tropical forests it promised to conserve under "legally binding" debt restructuring agreements.

"APP Default on Environmental Covenant," a new report from Sumatra NGO coalition Eyes on the Forest, shows that the company in 2004 agreed to protect high conservation value forest under debt restructuring agreements it made with taxpayer-backed financial institutions in nine countries. The debt restructuring agreements were negotiated after APP in 2001 defaulted on a massive $US13.9 billion of debt and was delisted by the New York and Singapore stock exchanges.

The 2004 agreements covered the restructuring of $6 billion in debt to the taxpayer-backed export credit agencies of Germany, Japan, France, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Spain and Denmark. Under the agreement, APP – part of the giant Sinar Mas conglomerate - also promised to be fully sustainable by 2007, something it defined as producing all pulp exclusively from plantation wood. The company described the agreements as a "legally binding contractual obligation".

Click to enlarge (© Eyes of the Forest)

The Eyes on the Forest investigation shows that 2007 was the year APP's wood suppliers began clearing the very areas of high conservation value forest in central Sumatra's Pulau Muda that had been highlighted by APP as an example of a new "scientific basis for the sustainable development of our plantations and the management of our conservation areas".

"Despite APP's praise for the independent mapping of the high conservation value forest in the Pulau Muda rainforest, our analysis of recent satellite imagery shows a third of the identified 34,000 hectares has now been drained and cleared," said Muslim Rasyid, co-ordinator of Jikalahari (Forest Rescue Network Raiu), a member of Eyes on the Forest.

Much of this clearing was legally questionable on other grounds, being on peat of more than four metres deep which when drained gives off colossal carbon emissions.

Promises cannot be trusted

"Even in legally binding agreements with government-backed credit institutions around the world, APP has demonstrated that its promises cannot be trusted," said Rod Taylor, Director of WWF International's Forest Programme.

"In just the last couple of months, it's been revealed that APP and affiliates have cleared inside a self-declared tiger sanctuary, that the company has made claims about sustainability certifications that its certifiers reject, and that protected timber species are present in supplies to its pulp mills."

APP has missed self-imposed deadlines of 2004, 2007, and 2009 of supplying its pulp mills exclusively from renewable plantation wood. An announcement it would finally fulfil this promise by 2015 was recently amended to a new deadline of 2020 – when there is a risk there will be little forest left in Sumatra. Eyes on the Forest calls on the ECAs and other investors to not finance APP's plans to expand existing or open new pulp and paper mills in Indonesia, in China and around the world.

"WWF urges taxpayers to tell their export credit agencies to stop supporting the destruction of Sumatran and other tropical forests and driving elephants, tigers and orang-utans to local extinction," said Nazir Foead, Conservation Director WWF-Indonesia.

"This is a company that defaulted on its debts and defaulted on the environmental covenants it agreed to as a condition of restructuring its debts. Any support to its plans to expand risks history repeating itself, with any new pulp mills adding to the over-capacity driving the assault on Sumatra's natural forests and wildlife.

"This is not a business model that should be financed by any prudent financial institution or investor for replication in Borneo, Papua or anywhere else."

For further information:
"APP Default on Environmental Covenant," a report by Eyes on the Forest (www.eyesontheforest.or.id), a coalition of Sumatra NGOs including WWF Riau, can be found here

The truth behind APP's greenwash, by Eyes on the Forest, compares APP claims of sustainability and responsibility to its actual practices. See http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?202809/Massive-APP-greenwash-campaign-is-mostly-hogwash-finds-new-report

APP certifiers distance themselves from sustainability claims http://wwf.panda.org/?203540/APP-certifiers-distance-themselves-from-sustainability-claims#disqus_thread

WWF-US last month detailed the link between APP's destruction of Sumatran rain forests and U.S. toilet paper imports. To download the report and learn more about WWF's tissue campaign, please visit www.worldwildlife.org/tp
Phil Dickie, pdickie@wwfint.org, +41 79 703 1952
Chris Chaplin, cchaplin@wwf.sg, +65 9826 3802

About WWF
WWF is one of the world's largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with over 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the Earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. panda.org/news for latest news and media resources

Investigation following new evidence against APP

2012-03-12

Jakarta, Indonesia - In the space of a week the National Geographic Society (NGS) has publicly broken ties with Asian Pulp and Paper (APP) and the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) has called for an investigation after a Greenpeace report revealed the company was illegally logging protected tree species.

WWF recently revealed that APP claims that its operations were independently certified as sustainable were not backed up by any of the standard setting or certifying companies it mentioned.

Greenpeace's year long investigation found that APP and suppliers were cutting and pulping ramin trees, which are legally protected under Indonesian law as well as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

The protected tree species were being illegally logged and pulped at an APP mill in Sumatra and Greenpeace has handed over its evidence to Indonesian police who told the group there would be an investigation.

Head of the Forests Campaign for Greenpeace Indonesia, Bustar Maitar said, "Greenpeace has caught Asian Pulp and Paper red-handed—this investigation shows its main pulp mill is regularly riddled with illegal ramin. This makes a mockery of their public claim to have a 'zero tolerance' for illegal timber."

Now PEFC has announced it is lodging an official complaint against the certification issued by SGS, a multinational corporation that does certification work, to PT Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper, an APP supplier. PEFC has also called for an urgent investigation.

PEFC has been criticised by green groups in the past for its certification of APP. The world's other major forestry certifier, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) dropped APP in 2007 following a negative report in the Wall Street Journal.

Part of the Greenpeace investigation involved independent testing and supply chain research into paper products from companies including Xerox, National Geographic and Danone, showing they contain Indonesian rainforest fibre.

In response to the revelations that APP fibre was found in a National Geographic coffee-table book, the NGS stated it had not sourced from APP for "several years".

A spokesman for NGS said, "We do not use APP products in our current books. While there may be a few books in our inventory that were printed on APP paper, we no longer use materials supplied by this company and have not for several years."

Greenpeace said it is "convinced" National Geographic will not source from APP again.

For years the WWF, Greenpeace and other similar groups have been tussling with APP, targeting the paper brand for relying on rainforest and peat land destruction for its paper products, thus endangering wildlife such as tigers and orang-utans, emitting significant amounts of carbon and clashing with local people.

APP certifiers distance themselves from sustainability claims

2012-02-15

Pekanbaru, Sumatra – Gland, Switzerland: Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) claims of independent sustainability certification for its operations aren't supported by the certification schemes and assessors it has nominated, a WWF survey has found.

None of these certifications cover the most controversial operations of the APP's wood suppliers – mass clearing of native forests which are home to critically endangered tigers, elephants and orang-utans and clearing and drainage of peat areas which result in massive greenhouse gas emissions.

The certification schemes cited by APP cover some, but far from all, supplier timber plantations – but none considered whether plantation establishment involved the clearing of high conservation value forest or whether traditional forest owners had given their "free, prior and informed consent" to forest clearance or plantation establishment.

Another blow to APP global greenwash campaign

"None of the certifiers are prepared to back APP's claim that their certifications demonstrate its sustainability. This is another blow to the credibility of APP's massive global greenwash campaign," said WWF International forest programme director Rod Taylor.

On a weekend APP announcement that they would implement measures to ensure US consumers did not have to choose between tigers and toilet paper, Taylor said the company had a long record of broken promises and he would wait for actual evidence of a company halt to natural forest clearing.

"No amount of public relations can change the fact that APP has bulldozed through their own 2004, 2007 and 2009 deadlines to stop feeding Sumatra's natural forests through its pulp mills.

"Recent revelations that APP is developing the world's biggest pulp mill in South Sumatra does not inspire any confidence of the company meeting its 2015 deadline for sustainable sourcing."

Following a recently issued published analysis of the reality behind APP's global greenwash campaign from Sumatra NGO coalition Eyes on the Forest, the company cited several forms of certification and assessment to back its claims of sustainability, stating that: "In fact, APP is regularly assessed and certified by many of the world's leading authorities on sustainable forest management and environmental auditors - including Geneva-based SGS, TUV, AFNOR, the official French auditors for the European ' EcoLabel', PHPL, Indonesian sustainable forest management standard, LEI, Indonesian voluntary sustainable forest management standard, and PEFC Chain-of-Custody, the world's largest forest certification program."

WWF asked the nominated certification schemes and assessors whether they supported the APP claim and also asked for detail of what specific APP products or operations were covered by their certifications. The survey covered the key social and environmental measures of free prior and informed consent by landowners and protection of high conservation value forests for forest operations and forest clearance for plantations.

None of the schemes or assessors endorsed the APP statement, with major certifier SGS noting that "None of the TLTV (legality) evaluations conducted by SGS and the statements issued by SGS provide the company with the right to claim that their operations are 'sustainable forest management' " and "The SGS certificates/statements do not support the claim of 'sustainability'."

No certificate or assessment issued evaluated the sustainability of the APP group as a whole. The Indonesian voluntary certification scheme LEI said it "did not have data of all APP operations".

Imported pulp gets certified, Sumatra forests get pulped

Limitations also apply to PEFC Chain-of-Custody certification, often mentioned in APP claims of sustainability. " The PEFC CoC certificates they hold also do not provide any assurance of their own sustainability since these are simply chain of custody and nothing more," said SGS which conducts the PEFC certifications. "The PEFC certified material they use in their production, thus enabling them to make PEFC certification claims, is all imported from outside Indonesia as by our understanding there are no PEFC certified forests in Indonesia."

Key but neglected dimensions of sustainability were whether conversion to plantation involved the clearing of High Conservation Value (HCV) forest or whether those with traditional forest rights or tenure had given their "free, prior and informed consent" to the conversions. The LEI standard, for example confirmed that "The decision to establish forest plantation in certain area, either it was converting natural forest with HCV forest or deep peat and how it was conducted in relation to Free, Prior and Informed Consent is beyond LEI's standard coverage."

APP suppliers have a record of clearing areas of HCV forest and of neglecting to recognise or do rigorous HCV assessments. There is also a persistent record of land tenure issues around APP operations.

Sumatra has lost more than half its forests

The WWF survey found that none of the certifications demonstrated the legality of the APP wood supply as a whole. Additionally, SGS noted that some plantations had been established on deep peat (more than three metres deep) but Indonesian law lacked clear definition of the conditions under which this was prohibited.

As well as being legally contentious, clearing and drainage of deep peats is a key factor in elevating Indonesia to the leading ranks of carbon emitters globally and opens coastal areas to the risk of seawater incursions.

Sumatra has lost more than half of its native forests in the last 25 years. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature recently upgraded the Red List of threatened species status of the Sumatra elephant to "critically endangered", citing habitat loss as the main reason. The island's orang-utans and tigers are also under extreme pressure, with recent documented incursions by APP suppliers into reserves for tiger conservation designated by the company itself and featured in its international greenwashing campaign.

"APP's claims of sustainability are not convincing to a host of major companies that have ceased to buy paper products from them," said Taylor.

"APP should realise that performance, not promises and propaganda will get the world off its back. A key performance indicator would be for APP pulp mills to immediately halt all use of wood sourced by clearing tropical forests."

Notes
Analysis and details of the responses from the certifying schemes and certifying companies can be found at : http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/app_collated_certifier_responses_final_13_february_2012.pdf
APP uses four sources of materials to manufacture their products: Indonesian wood obtained from large-scale clearance of natural forest, Indonesian wood obtained from harvesting of plantations, pulp purchased from external sources and recycled materials. The truth behind APP's greenwash, the latest report by Eyes on the Forest (www.eyesontheforest.or.id), a coalition of Sumatra NGOs including WWF Riau, compares APP claims of sustainability and responsibility to its actual practices. See http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?202809/Massive-APP-greenwash-campaign-is-mostly-hogwash-finds-new-report
WWF-US last week detailed retailers who had dropped and retailers still stocking APP toilet tissue in the US. To download the report and learn more about WWF's tissue campaign, please visit www.worldwildlife.org/tp
PHPL - Pengelolaan Hutan Produksi Lestari – was not included in the survey as it is a mandatory government regulatory tool to verify legality rather than an independent voluntary third party certification of sustainable forestry.

WWF finds US grocery retailers stocking toilet paper linked to rainforest destruction

2012-02-08

WASHINGTON, DC: American companies and consumers are inadvertently contributing to Indonesian rain forest and tiger habitat destruction by buying toilet paper and other tissue products made with fiber from Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), according to a World Wildlife Fund report released today.

Don't Flush Tiger Forests: Toilet Paper, U.S. Supermarkets, and the Destruction of Indonesia's Last Tiger Habitats finds that APP, the fifth-largest tissue producer in the world, is rapidly expanding into the U.S. market with paper linked to rain forest destruction, originating from areas that are the last home for critically endangered species such as Sumatran tigers, elephants, and orangutans.

Products made with APP fiber, such as toilet paper, paper towels and tissue, are increasingly landing in grocery stores, restaurants, schools and hotels across the country under the Paseo and Livi brand names.

Eight large retailers – BI-LO, Brookshire Grocery Company, Delhaize Group (owner of Food Lion chain), Harris Teeter, Kmart, Kroger, SUPERVALU, and Weis Markets – have decided to stop carrying tissue products made with APP fiber during the last several months.

"We applaud the decision by these companies to remove these products from their stores," said Jan Vertefeuille, head of WWF's Tiger Campaign.

Since it began operating in Indonesia in 1984, WWF estimates that APP and its affiliates have pulped nearly 5 million acres of tropical forest on the island of Sumatra, which equals an area roughly the size of 4 million football fields or larger than the state of Massachusetts.

"Consumers shouldn't have to choose between tigers and toilet paper," said Linda Kramme, a WWF forest expert. "We're asking retailers, wholesalers and consumers not to buy Paseo or Livi products until APP stops clearing rain forests in Sumatra."

Fastest-growing toilet paper brand in the U.S.

APP distributes its tissue, paper and paper-based packaging products through a number of North American-based subsidiaries and affiliates, including Solaris Paper, Mercury Paper, Paper Excellence, Global Paper Solutions, and Eagle Ridge Paper.

In recent years, APP has greatly expanded into the U.S. tissue market, including through Paseo and Livi tissue products. Oasis Brands, which markets Paseo, announced in 2011 that Paseo had become the fastest-growing brand of toilet paper in the U.S. Paseo and Livi are also marketed as "away-from-home" products used in public restrooms in restaurants, office buildings, schools and hotels.

"More than 50 percent of shoppers say they consider sustainability when they shop, but Americans may not be aware that products used every day, like paper and tissue, can be linked to devastating impacts on forests in faraway places," the report states.

To produce the report, WWF researched Paseo sales to U.S. grocery chains and found Paseo products being carried in grocery chains across the country in 2011. WWF contacted 20 grocers sourcing the largest amounts of Paseo to make them aware of Paseo's link to rain forest destruction.

The 12 companies identified and contacted, but that did not respond or commit to stopping Paseo sales, are:

•Albertsons LLC
•Giant Eagle
•Hy-Vee
•IGA
•Ingles
•K-VA-T (sold at Food City)

•Lowes Food Stores
•Marsh
•Price Chopper
•Roundy's (sold at Roundy's, Pick'n Save, Rainbow and Copps)
•Save Mart
•Spartan

"We urge companies to be responsible stewards of the planet and stop carrying Paseo products until APP stops clearing rain forest," Kramme said.

Trying to improve the pulp and paper sector

Paseo is produced with pulp from APP, a subsidiary of China-based Sinar Mas Group and one of the world's largest pulp and paper companies. APP owns two pulp mills on the Indonesian island of Sumatra – one of them among the world's largest – and is responsible for more deforestation in Sumatra than any other company, according to field investigations, government data and satellite imagery.

The research into APP and its Paseo and Livi tissue paper brands is part of efforts by WWF to encourage a more responsible pulp and paper sector, specifically by addressing the increase in the United States of pulp and paper products produced with rain forest fiber or from plantation fiber from converted rain forest.

WWF is working to ensure that North American paper sourcing no longer negatively impacts Indonesian natural forests and instead drives demand for paper from responsibly developed and managed Indonesian plantations. WWF also is working with other Indonesian pulp and paper producers willing to adopt better practices to bring more options to the marketplace.

Many responsible companies are already showing leadership. One of the easiest ways that companies and consumers can help is by buying tissue products made with fiber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or 100 percent recycled fiber to ensure they aren't contributing to forest destruction, and urging retailers to stop selling brands linked to destructive practices.

To download the report and learn more about WWF's tissue campaign, please visit www.worldwildlife.org/tp.

Document pulps APP's tiger sanctuary claims

2011-12-16

Pekanbaru, Sumatra – A document released today by WWF and partners confirms that a supplier to paper giant Asia Pulp and Paper is clear felling natural tropical forests the company designated as tiger sanctuary.

The document throws into doubt APP claims on Tuesday that current clear cutting activities of supplier PT Ruas Utama Jaya (RUJ) were taking place narrowly outside rather than inside the Senepis Tiger Sanctuary.

The APP document, "Proposal for Rationalization of Senepis-Buluhala Sumatra Tiger Conservation Area", shows Sinarmas Forestry (APP) and RUJ executives signing off on sanctuary boundaries that clearly put current large scale clearing inside the boundaries.

Click to enlarge (© APP / Eyes on the Forest)

"APP really needs to come clean on its incredible shrinking tiger sanctuary," said Aditya Bayunanda, pulp & paper coordinator of WWF-Indonesia. "In its media campaigns APP seeks major credit for its minor contribution of about 8000 ha to the 106,000 ha tiger sanctuary.

"And now, according to the map signed off by its executives, it is busily clearing and draining even that minor contribution."

Click to enlarge (© Eyes of the Forest)
No longer habitat for tigers - or anything much

As recently as 2010, APP was claiming that the presence of its supplier's concessions on the sanctuary boundaries would provide additional protection. Satellite imagery however shows that huge areas of dense tiger forest that government and scientists had proposed as the Senepis National Park have now been cleared and drained.

"The real story of APP's tiger conservation impact in this area is not that they contributed only around 8000 ha of their own concessions to the sanctuary and are now clearing that anyway, but that overall they have been responsible for the loss of around 49,000 hectares of the Senepis tiger landscape," said Hariansyah Usman of Walhi Riau, part of the Eyes on the Forest coalition that conducted the investigation.

"Meanwhile, they are running this massive greenwash advertising campaign through the world media and via various front groups to portray themselves as champions of tiger conservation.

"In trying to deny they are clearing their own designated tiger sanctuary, they have confirmed that they are clearing tiger forest and they are pulping tropical forests in defiance of public commitments to halt this by 2004, then by 2007, then by 2009 and now by 2015."

The world of difference between APP's claims and its practice is detailed in the new Eyes on the Forest report "The Truth behind APP's Greenwash". On climate, the report notes how emissions calculations conducted for APP and used in its greenwash campaigns disregard the immense emissions from draining deep peat areas such as Senepis for short lived plantation establishment – calculations suggest the carbon footprint of APP paper could be more than 500 times the APP consultant's claim and 10 times the North America pulp and paper sector average.

The company's greenwash campaigns and the lobbying of front groups have however failed to prevent a host of major companies ceasing to buy paper products from APP. In the Netherlands, APP's print and television advertisements have been judged misleading to the public by the country's Advertising Codes Commission.

Massive APP greenwash campaign is mostly hogwash, finds new report

2011-12-14

Pekanbaru, Sumatra – The Senepis Tiger Sanctuary – a prominent feature of the massive international greenwash campaign of paper giant Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) – is being subject to clear cutting operations by one of the company's wood suppliers, an investigation by WWF and partners finds.

"The truth behind APP's Greenwash", a new report released today by Sumatra-based NGO coalition Eyes on the Forest, estimates that APP, part of the Sinar Mas Group, has pulped more than two million hectares of Indonesia's tropical forests since it started paper production there in 1984.

According to the report, APP's continued clear-cutting of forests including elephant, tiger and orang-utan habitat and the immense climate change impacts of draining deep peats to establish high turnover plantations is completely contrary to the image of environmental responsibility it is pushing through front groups and media advertising.

Click to enlarge (© Eyes of the Forest)

The truth behind APP's greenwash

The truth behind APP's greenwash details how the company made the same promise on moving to 100% plantation sourcing of timber for major pulp mills four times – missing self-imposed deadlines to stop using native forest timber in 2004, 2007 and 2009.

APP is now announcing it will meet its commitment on timber sourcing by 2015 – a deadline Eyes on the Forest says it expects APP to also miss.

Through field investigations in June and October 2011 and historical satellite image analysis up to June 2011, Eyes on the Forest found that the APP supplier, PT Ruas Utama Jaya has been clear cutting tropical forest inside the Senepis Tiger Sanctuary.

"This is clear proof that the global advertising claims of APP that it actively protects Sumatran tiger are highly exaggerated", said Anwar Purwoto of WWF.

The investigation shows a tiger sanctuary reality vastly different from the picture being pushed to the world media and through various front groups by APP.

After apparently trying to halt a government-proposed Senepis National Park that would have protected tiger habitat targeted by APP for pulping, the company switched to advertising a leading role in creating the "Senepis Tiger Sanctuary" in 2006, according to The truth behind APP's greenwash.

The report alleges a very minor additional APP conservation contribution for Sumatra's critically endandgered tigers - some 86% of the sanctuary is located on the already-protected forests of a Forest Stewardship Council-certified logging concession held by unrelated company PT Diamond Raya Timber.

Now, according to the report, at least one APP supplier is engaged in clear cutting and drainage of the small areas that were APP's only real contribution to the sanctuary.

"Misleading customers about the brutal reality on the ground"

"It's appalling that APP is pulping even the small blocks of forest it had told the world it would protect as tiger habitat," Hariansyah Usman of WALHI Riau said. "This report shows a different picture to this and other, much-touted APP 'conservation projects' ".

"We would like the Sinar Mas Group's buyers and investors who read this report to realize how APP's media campaigns are exploiting their lack of knowledge or inexperience about Indonesia and how they mislead their customers about the brutal reality on the ground."

"APP is interested only in feeding its giant mills with as much tropical forest wood as possible, and hoping that customers and investors will continue to believe conservation commitments and advertisements which past experience shows to be unrealistic."

In the Netherlands, APP's print and television advertisements have been judged misleading to the public by the country's Advertising Codes Commission. Many global buyers, including some of the biggest paper users in the world, have ceased purchasing from APP. However, APP sells office paper, paper-based packaging and other paper products and is increasingly expanding globally into tissue products like toilet paper, including the brand names Paseo and LIVI.

"We urge global buyers and investors to no longer support Asia Pulp & Paper's continuing shameless destruction of Indonesia's tropical forests and the homes of Sumatra's last surviving tigers," says Muslim Rasyid of Jikalahari, NGOs network. "Join the growing list of other responsible companies that have cut all ties with SMG/APP."

Toilet paper brand wipes out forests and endangered species

2011-08-22

Auckland - An investigation released today reveals that Auckland based company Cottonsoft is sourcing its toilet paper from rainforests in Indonesia, home of the critically-endangered Sumatran tiger.

The evidence is the result of an eight-month investigation by Greenpeace, the Green Party and WWF-New Zealand into exactly where the toilet paper sold by New Zealand retailers originates from.

Cottonsoft refused to disclose where they were sourcing their toilet paper from so samples were sent to a US laboratory for forensic testing. This confirmed the presence of mixed tropical hardwoods (timber that comes from rainforests) in a range of Cottonsoft products.

Cottonsoft are a subsidiary of the notorious conglomerate Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), which has been dropped as a supplier by major companies around the world, including Kraft, Nestle, Unilever, Tesco and Carrefour because of their reliance on rainforest destruction to make pulp and paper products.

Greenpeace, the Green Party and WWF-New Zealand are calling on retailers to stop stocking Cottonsoft and other APP Products until the company commits to ending rainforest destruction. They are also asking the public to use their consumer power to force Cottonsoft products off the shelves.

To help consumers find 'rainforest friendly toilet paper' a shoppers' guide was released today.

Indonesia is now the biggest supplier of imported toilet paper pulp to New Zealand, supplying one in four toilets rolls sold in New Zealand.

The destruction of Indonesia's rainforests is one of the main threats to the survival of the critically endangered Sumatran tiger, only 400 of which are estimated to remain in the wild. It is also an increasing source of conflict between tigers and humans.

Today Greenpeace New Zealand released shocking footage of a Sumatran tiger that was caught in a trap and later died in an APP logging concession in Riau, Indonesia.

Greenpeace campaigner Nathan Argent said, "Many Kiwis would be shocked to know that by using Cottonsoft toilet paper they could literally be wiping out some of the world's most endangered species."

"We're asking customers to tell retailers to stop selling toilet paper that has come from trashed rainforests."

"The rainforest and its communities are already being destroyed by illegal logging. Trashing rainforests to make toilet paper is simply obscene", said Green Party forestry spokesperson Catherine Delahunty.

WWF-New Zealand's Executive Director Chris Howe said, "Many New Zealanders will want to make sure their shopping choices are not harming forests and wildlife in Indonesia. We encourage people to help ensure the forest homes of endangered tigers and orangutans remain in tact by using the consumer guide to make the right choice at the checkout."

Indonesia has one of the fastest rates of forest destruction in the world. The Indonesian government estimates that more than one million hectares of rainforest are being cleared every year. Rainforest destruction is also acknowledged as a major driver of climate change.

Pulp and Paper industry still damaging key tiger territory, investigation finds

2010-12-15

One of the world's largest paper suppliers is still clearcutting the rainforest of Indonesia's Sumatra island, a habitat critical to the survival of the tiger, an investigation by local NGOs found.

The enquiry found that in the dense natural forests of the Bukit Tigapuluh landscape companies affiliated the Asia Pulp & Paper/Sinar Mas Group (APP/SMG) have sought out selective logging concessions.

The companies obtained government licenses to switch the forest status to industrial timber plantation concessions, sometimes under legally questionable circumstances. This allows for clearcutting and planting of commercial plantations, destroying the home of local tigers and other endangered species. It is also in breach of the company's claims that it doesn't clear high-quality forest.

"Our investigation found that in the last six years, the company in this landscape alone contributed to the loss of about 60,000 hectares of forest without appropriate professional assessments or stakeholder consultation," said Susanto Kurniawan of the environmental conservation group Eyes on the Forest.

"Bukit Tigapuluh is one of very few remaining rainforests in central Sumatra; therefore we urge the Government not to give it away to APP/SMG, who will mercilessly eliminate it and devastate local communities and biodiversity."

Bukit Tigapuluh has about 320,000 hectares of natural forest, and harbors about 30 of the 300 Sumatran tigers which still survive on the island. It has been deemed one of 20 landscapes critical to the long-term survival of tigers by international scientists. In November, Indonesia pledged at the Global Tiger Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia to make it a focal area for tiger conservation.

Approximately 150 elephants and 130 highly endangered Sumatran orangutans also live in the area, also home to two indigenous forest-dwelling tribes. The Orang Rimba and Talang Mamak – who according to Diki Kurniawan from WARSI, a community conservation organization are "being driven off their ancestral land by APP and other companies. "Many must now beg for rice handouts to survive," Kurniawan said.

After a $1 billion pledge from Norway, Indonesia announced this year a moratorium starting in 2011 on all new forest and peatland concessions. The moratorium includes Sumatra.

"The Bukit Tigapuluh landscape is a major test of Indonesia's $1 billion climate agreement with the Kingdom of Norway," said Aditya Bayunanda of WWF-Indonesia "We stand ready to help the Government find ways to protect the forest and Indonesia's natural heritage."

Once upon a time in a far away land there was a forest...

2009-10-28

Frankfurt, Germany – Significant amounts of destruction of tropical forests could be involved in producing books for German children, an investigation by WWF-Germany has shown.

With fewer childrens' books being produced in Germany and even fewer being produced from German paper pulp, WWF Germany subjected 51 German children's books produced in south east Asia to analysis for the presence of tropical timbers not associated with plantations.

More than a third of the books tested positive for significant traces of tropical wood, including one which ironically commenced with the words "We are writing this in the year 2805. The human race has left the planet earth... nothing grows here anymore...".

The results are likely to understate the problem, as much plantation pulp comes from cleared areas of tropical forest with well documented impacts on species which can include endangered tigers, elephants and rhinoceros, human rights violations and massive contributions to greenhouse gas emissions.

"We chose children's books as a striking amount of the production has been relocated to Asia, with nearly two thirds of German children's books imports now coming from China alone. The relocation of the book production from Germany to Asia has grown nearly tenfold during the last ten years" said Johannes Zahnen, Forest expert WWF Germany.

"There is also the irony that it is children who have the most stake in the future and who will be most impacted by unsustainable book production."

Risks that wood used is from illegal logging is high as the Chinese paper industry has close and increasing ties with companies active in areas of Indonesia, where forest clearing is destroying large areas of peat forest shielding vast sources of carbon.

Forest draining and destruction in the Sumatran province of Riau alone results in greater emissions than the industrialised nation of the Netherlands, with 40 per cent of the destruction being tied to the company Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) and its suppliers.

APP, in turn, is increasing its inroads into the Chinese pulp and paper industry, through associated companies such as Gold East Paper which provides paper for books printing and Yalong Paper Products, which includes direct production of picture and drawing books for children among its activities.

WWF Germany is calling on German publishing houses to use paper certified as coming from sustainable sources, used recycled paper and give priority to paper bleached without the use of chlorine products.

"We supply scorecard to find the most environmentally friendly alternative for a given product."

Pulp giant APP set to assault Sumatra orangutan sanctuary

2009-05-18

Jambi, INDONESIA: A massive logging operation planned by Asian Pulp & Paper and the Sinar Mas Group (APP/SMG) and associated companies is to include large portions of the only areas that Sumatran orangutans have ever successfully been re-introduced into the wild, conservation groups active in Jambi province have learned.

Also threatened in natural forest areas around the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park are a quarter of the last critically endangered Sumatran tigers left in the wild, the Talang Mamak and Orang Rimba indigenous peoples and a significant population of endangered Sumatran elephants.

Conservation groups WARSI, the Sumatran Tiger Conservation and Protection Foundation, the Frankfurt Zoological Society, the Zoological Society of London and WWF-Indonesia learned last week that an APP/SMG joint venture had acquired the largest of the former and inactive ex PT IPA selective logging concessions in the Bukit Tigapuluh forest area - covering the orangutan reintroduction area and areas recording the most frequent sightings of tigers.

The groups have been highly critical of an APP/SMG environmental impact assessment for the neighbouring and also critically important PT Dalek Hutani Esa concession, saying it takes no account of key wildlife and indigenous peoples' needs and should be rejected.

APP/SMG pushed a legally questionable logging road through both areas last year, opening up access for rampant illegal logging and clearing linked with increased fatalities as tigers are driven into closer contact with humans.

With the latest acquisition, APP/SMG now holds the majority of the buffer areas to the national park , including large areas the Forestry Service of Jambi and the National Park management authority agreed in 2008 to designate as the Bukit Tigapuluh Ecosystem which would be sustainably managed as natural forest.

Less than one third of the 2007 forest cover is within the National Park, with the areas most preferred by animals and indigenous peoples lying in the surrounding lowland forests now vulnerable to clearing.

"It took scientists decades to discover how to successfully reintroduce critically endangered orangutans from captivity into the wild. It could take APP just months to destroy an important part of their new habitat," said Peter Pratje of the Frankfurt Zoological Society.

"These lowland forests are excellent habitat for orangutans, which is why we got government permission to release them here beginning in 2002. The apes are thriving now, breeding and establishing new family groups."

Between 1985 and 2007, Sumatra island lost 12 million hectares of natural forest, a 48 percent loss in 22 years, with the accelerating rampage provoking international concern over the loss of biodiversity, smoke hazards from forest fires and peat swamp and soil degradation from clearing that made Indonesia one of the largest sources of the emissions causing climate change.

The Indonesian Ministries of Forestry, Environment, Public Works and Interior, as well as the governors of all 10 Sumatran provinces, including Jambi, announced at the World Conservation Congress in Spain last year that they were committed to protecting areas of the island with "high conservation values."

The Bukit Tigapuluh landscape is widely regarded as one of Indonesia's key areas of biodiversity..

"These NGOs are ready to support the Jambi governor to implement his public commitment to protecting Sumatra's high conservation value areas and halt APP/SMG's plan and identify alternative financing that would provide money and still save the forests, such as credits in the emerging forest carbon market," said Ian Kosasih of WWF Indonesia.

"Bukit Tigapuluh's forest have great potential for earning avoided deforestation credits, due to the high co-benefits of biodiversity and an indigenous community, as well as high avoidable emissions."

APP's forest clearing linked to 12 years of human and tiger deaths in Sumatra

2009-03-17

Pekanbaru, Indonesia – Most violent incidents between people and tigers in Sumatra's Riau Province in the past 12 years have occurred near forests being cleared by paper giant Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) and associated companies, according to a new analysis of human-tiger conflict data.

The analysis, conducted by the group Eyes on the Forest, found that since 1997, 55 people and 15 Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) have been killed during conflict encounters in Riau Province. Another 17 tigers have been captured and removed from the wild.

By overlaying the locations of these conflicts with government maps of pulpwood plantation concessions, Eyes on the Forest found a direct correlation between tiger conflict and the unsustainable forest practices of APP, its holding company Sinar Mas Group, and other associated companies that supply pulpwood to APP's mills.

At least 147 of 245, or 60 percent, of all conflicts in Riau occurred in the Senepis area, where APP/SMG-associated companies have expanded their natural forest clearance operations in five concessions, mainly since 1999. Three of those concessions were expanded without proper license from the Ministry of Forestry.

Eyes on the Forest is a coalition of 25 environmental organizations in Riau, Sumatra, Indonesia. They include WWF-Indonesia, Jikalahari (Forest Rescue Network Riau) and Walhi Riau (Friends of the Earth Indonesia) and several other NGOs. The coalition was launched in December 2004 to investigate forest crimes and conflict in the central Sumatran province.

Sumatra is home to some of the most biodiverse forests in the world, however, half of the forest remaining in 1985 has since been lost.

"With so much forest loss, the tigers have nowhere to go" said Ian Kosasih of WWF-Indonesia, "In the last month alone, four tigers have been killed in Riau. There are fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers estimated to remain in the wild and every tiger killed is a significant loss to the population of this critically endangered subspecies."

APP is responsible for more natural forest clearance in Sumatra – the only habitat for the Sumatran tiger – than any other company. Since it began operations in the 1980s, APP is estimated to have pulped more than 1 million hectares (approximately 2.5 million acres) of natural forests in Riau and Jambi provinces in Sumatra.

Currently, NGOs are concerned about APP's involvement in forest destruction in Senepis, Kerumutan, Kampar and Bukit Tigapuluh forest blocks in these provinces. Eyes on the Forest calls on APP/SMG-associated companies to stop natural forest clearance immediately.

"APP/SMG-associated companies' activities in Senepis are legally questionable and environmentally reckless," said Jhonny Mundung, of Walhi Riau. "APP has recently made ridiculous public claims that it is leading tiger conservation in the area, when in fact it is jeopardizing the safety of local communities and pushing the tigers closer to local extinction. Global paper buyers should not be fooled: APP destroys forests and wildlife."

Cleared areas around the Kerumutan forest have become a new hotspot for tiger conflict, with three incidents recorded already this year. Large area of this deep peat forest have been licensed for APP/SMG-associated companies and some sections have been cleared in recent years by them in what Eyes on the Forest believes is legally questionable logging.

In 2007, the Riau Police and the Indonesian National Police probed 14 companies as part of a widespread illegal logging case. Half of those cases were APP/SMG-associated companies, including one concession in Kerumutan (PT. Bina Duta Laksana) where one human-tiger conflict happened in February.

The Riau Police abruptly shut down their investigation in December 2008. However, authorities continue to investigate one company -- an APP/SMG-associated company, PT. Ruas Utama Jaya, which has concessions in Senepis.

"The Riau Police should continue probing the legality of natural forest clearing, including APP/SMG-associated companies' activities, to ensure respect for the law, especially provisions that safeguard the environmental and social rights of Riau communities," said Susanto Kurniawan from Jikalahari.

In February, the national Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) pledged to resume the cases of 13 companies and the House of Representatives' Law Commission (III) supports this move.

Besides being critical habitat for tigers, Senepis, Kerumutan, Kampar Peninsula and other Sumatran peat forests in Riau are a globally significant carbon store; the carbon-rich peat soil is so deep that simply cutting the trees or disturbing the soil releases enough carbon emissions to impact global climate change.

Of all the natural forest lost from 1982 until 2007 in Riau, 24 percent was replaced by or cleared for industrial pulpwood plantations and 29 percent was replaced or cleared for industrial palm oil plantations.

APP log road challenges pact to save Sumatra

2008-10-20

Pekanbaru, Indonesia – Indonesia's newly announced commitment to saving Sumatra is facing an early test, following revelations that Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) had pushed a 45-kilometer, legally questionable logging highway through prime Sumatran tiger habitat.

The latest road, passing through protected areas, proposed protected areas and deep peat areas banned from clearing due to massive carbon stores, is the third new controversial logging road associated with APP, under the umbrella of its holding group Sinar Mas Group (SMG) and affiliates, to come to light in the past year.

The existence of the road, servicing two equally controversial APP and affiliate-owned concessions in the Senepis lowland forest, was revealed in an investigative report issued today by the Eyes on the Forest group of NGOs battling deforestation in Raui Province. The group, including WWF-Indonesia and local NGOs Jikalahari and Walhi Riau, has highlighted previous instances of illegal clearing by APP and other companies in the central Sumatran province which has recorded some of the world's highest deforestation rates.

"Unfortunately, this logging project is just the latest in a continuing pattern of wholesale natural forest destruction by APP and its associates in Sumatra," said Johny Setiawan Mundung, Director Executive of Walhi Riau.

"Our field investigators found that APP has completed a 45-kilometer highway through the Senepis peat forest and paved nearly half of it already, even though we could find no permit for the road."

The revelations come just over a week after the Indonesian ministers of Forestry, Environment, Interior and Public Works were joined by all 10 provincial governors from Sumatra at the World Conservation Congress in Barcelona, Spain to announce a commitment to protect the natural forests and ecosystems of the world's sixth largest island.

Draining or disturbance of the deep peat soils under forests such as Senepis results in globally significant emissions. Global discussions on financial mechanisms for avoided deforestation could soon result in countries like Indonesia receiving more from investors for forest preservation than forest destruction.

"The building of this road has resulted in a massive, 50-meter-wide gash of opened forest along the 45 kilometers," said Hariansyah Usman, deputy coordinator of Jikalahari. "The road splits the Senepis peat forest in two, releasing significant amounts of climate-altering carbon emissions from the clearing and drainage canals on both sides."

Clearing and road building in the area have also been linked with an upsurge in human tiger conflict. NGOs report that at least eight people have been killed by tigers since the APP started clearing the forest block for its pulpwood plantations in 1999.

The Eyes on the Forest report notes that large areas of both concessions were at one point listed for inclusion in a proposed Tiger National Park and subsequent unexplained changes to the proposal saw it expanded to a larger area offering much less protection to the critically endangered tigers and including only very small areas of the logging concessions.

The two APP-affiliated logging concession holders in Senepis, PT Ruas Utama Jaya and PT Suntara Gajapati, are among 14 timber and pulp companies currently being prosecuted by Riau Police for alleged environmental and forest crimes, following revelations by Jikalahari and Walhi Riau.

There is a province-wide de facto logging moratorium in place as Riau Police conduct an illegal logging investigation involving APP and other companies. NGOs charge the company with using the moratorium to put in place infrastructure such as roads for a renewed assault on Sumatra's forests.

Previous reports by NGOs this year found that APP and its affiliated companies were opening new logging roads and clearing natural forest in the Kampar peatland forest, a high emission risk area, and the Bukit Tigapuluh dry lowland forest block, critical habitat for orangutans, tigers, elephants and the Orang Rimba indigenous peoples.

"Major paper customers all over the globe have cut ties with APP because of its unsustainable and likely illegal activities," said Nazir Foead, director of corporate engagement WWF-Indonesia. "We call on APP to stop this unsustainable clearing of our forests and to start behaving as a responsible corporate citizen. We recommend current and future buyers and investors of APP not to have any business with APP until that time."

Among the companies that have stopped buying from APP because of its business practices in Sumatra are Staples Inc., the largest office retailer in the United States; the Ricoh and Fuji Xerox Groups, both headquartered in Japan; the Metro Group in Germany and Woolworths of Australia.

APP irregularities threaten massive climate and tiger impact

2008-03-25

Pekanbaru, INDONESIA – One of the world's biggest carbon stores and a key tiger habitat are threatened by a new logging road in Riau Province, Sumatra, according to a new investigative report published today.

An absence of permits and other irregularities suggest that the new road cutting into Kampar peninsula is likely to be illegal, says Riau's Eyes on the Forest group, a coalition of local NGO network Jikalahari, Walhi Riau, and WWF-Indonesia.

The road, like another exposed in January threatening indigenous peoples, elephants, orangutans and tigers in Sumatra's Bukit Tigapuluh forest landscape, has been constructed by companies linked to controversial conglomerate Asia Pulp and Paper (APP).

"It is morally reprehensible for one of the world's largest paper companies to so brazenly ignore Indonesian laws and destroy the natural resources that belong to the people of Riau," said Teguh Surya of Walhi Riau.

"We strongly urge APP to join the ranks of responsible businesses and conduct its operations within the law. Until that time, the world's paper buyers and investors should stop doing business with APP."

Kampar peninsula can be considered a single hydro-ecological system, consisting entirely of a single dome of peat at depths mostly over 10 meters – extremely deep for a peatland, with an enormous store of carbon.

Drainage and plantation development activities on the top of the Kampar peat dome could cause the dome to collapse and emit large amounts of carbon, according to Eyes on the Forest.

Last month, a report [PDF - 5.3MB] by WWF, Remote Sensing Solution GmbH and Hokkaido University found that deforestation, peat decomposition and forest fires in Riau Province resulted in annual carbon emissions equivalent to 122 percent of the Netherlands total annual emissions, 58 percent of Australia's annual emissions, 39 per cent of annual UK emissions and 26 per cent of annual German emissions.

That report also found that the province had Indonesia's highest deforestation rates, substantially driven by the operations of global paper giants APP and competitor Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL).

Until 2002, the 700,000 ha of Kampar peninsular were still fully covered by by natural forest, but clearing for APP and APRIL pulp mills and related plantation development has been the major factor in cover being reduced to 400,000 ha by 2007

The Kampar peninsula area is also considered one of the last havens for critically endangered Sumatran tigers, whose wild population is estimated to be down to just 400-500. It is feared that Sumatran tigers may be on course to follow Indonesia's Java and Bali tigers into extinction.

The landscape was designated a "regional priority" tiger conservation landscape by the world's leading tiger scientists in 2006. A preliminary estimate by WWF-Indonesia shows that a well-managed Kampar peninsula could be home to as many as 60 tigers.

"Even as our investigators were out surveying the site last month, they came across tiger tracks walking along the APP logging road," said Nursamsu of WWF-Indonesia and Eyes on the Forest coordinator.

"But the tigers of Kampar don't stand a chance once APP begins logging full-scale and the poachers discover there's easy access to this critical tiger habitat."

Local NGO network Jikalahari and WWF have formally proposed that the Ministry of Forestry protect the natural forest of Kampar. Jikalahari also jointly signed an MoU with Siak and Pelalawan District Administrations at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali last year.

APP told Eyes of the Forest that the Siak district government had granted the company permission to build the highway to connect the two remote villages of Teluk Lanus and Sungai Rawa. But satellite images show that the road was not built anywhere close to the two villages, but does connect to two new logging concessions affiliated with APP.

"APP claimed that it was building this state-of-the-art, paved highway for the benefit of the local communities," said Susanto Kurniawan of Jikalahari.

"It's shameful to see a multibillion-dollar enterprise hiding behind the needs of desperately poor, isolated villagers, who will receive absolutely no benefit from this road but will likely suffer the consequences of APP's activities."

The logging concessions also suffer from irregularities, not least being an apparent contravention on clearing natural forest in good condition for plantation development or clearing on deep peat soils. Both concessions are based on licenses issued by District heads, who are not supposed to issue such licenses, according to Eyes on the Forest.

As well as Bukit Tigapuluh, APP also is currently threatening the Senepis and Kerumutan peatland forests in central Sumatra, Eyes on the Forest said.