Asia Pulp & Paper Vows Commitment To Stop Clear Cutting Natural Rainforests In Indonesia

The often embattled Asia Pulp & Paper Group, Indonesia’s largest pulp and paper producer – ranking fourth largest in the world – says it has decided to put “an end to the clearing of natural forests across its entire supply chain in Indonesia.”

Asia Pulp & Paper logging truck passing through the degraded lands in Indonesia. Photo by David Gilbert, and provided by the Rainforest Action Network.

APP says that all of its suppliers have suspended natural forest clearance while an independent assessment takes place to identify areas of high conservation value that will be protected through a long-term management program.

APP has been repeatedly attack over the years from environmental groups (including Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund, the Rainforest Action Network, and the environmental coalition Eyes on the Forest) with allegations that it has indiscriminately clear cut many of Indonesia’s  most pristine natural rainforests, including sanctuaries for endangered species including the Sumatran tigers, orangutans, and elephants.  

A Greenpeace’s report called How Sinar Mas Is Pulping The Planet took an investigative look at the practices of APP’s parent company in two vital rainforest areas in Sumatra – the Bukit Tigapuluh Forest Landscape in Central Sumatra, which is one of the last refuges for the Sumatran tiger; and the Kerumutan Peat Swamp forest, which is another important tiger habitat and carbon rich peatland.

Greenpeace said that it “documented Sinar Mas in the act of clearing rainforests and destroying peatland in these areas.”

In addition, Eyes on the Forest published a report called APP: default on environmental covenant, which accused the company of converting parts of the Senepis Tiger Sanctuary in Sumatra into pulpwood plantations.

Click to read more ...