According to APP, the report contains numerous facts that demonstrate the paper producer has been fulfilling its obligations to operate in a sustainable and environmentally conscious way. The accusation is the latest in an ongoing public relations war between environmental NGO’s and APP, which is a major paper supplier to Australian printers.

However following its publication APP has been subject to a negative publicity campaign from a number of environmental non-government organisations, principally WWF. The 95 claims made against APP included allegations of illegal logging, deforestation, impact on biodiversity, responsibility for forest fires, poor financial viability and human rights abuses.

Aditya Bayunanda WWF’s Pulp & Paper Coordinator for Indonesia says, “Satellites images have been capturing and documenting every single hectare that the company has destroyed for years. We have no doubt, paper APP produces in its mills contains Sumatra’s timber from dense tropical rainforest.”

Meanwhile, APP says that the independent audit, conducted by audit service Mazars, found that the facts contained in the APP report were accurate and, therefore, the allegations made by the environmental NGOs were indeed baseless, inaccurate and without validity.

A statement from Mazars concludes, “In our opinion, based on our work described in this report, the facts and figures included in the report are reasonably accurate, verifiable and supported by documentation and information provided by external parties.”

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