Indonesian paper giant Asia Pulp and Paper’s evaluation report by an independent environmental organisation has found it stayed true to its zero-deforestation pledge, but it says several gaps need to be addressed. The report cleared APP of the biggest issue critics cited, which was the clearing of natural forest in its 38 concessions, except for two minor breaches in 2013. APP has also stopped using natural forest wood in its mills since August 2013. The four-month evaluation by the Rainforest Alliance says the paper giant has made ‘moderate progress’ towards its commitments set out in APP’s own Forest Conservation Policy (FCP).
The Australian print industry was a major consumer of APP products, but in recent years the local merchants all but abandoned the giant after it was accused of environmental malpractice and put under pressure by the green lobby. However since APP has met its critics head on and taken visible actions in the last few years it has once again started to supply stock to the Australian print industry. The long anticipated report focused on the company’s policy development and implementation on the ground during the first 18 months of the FCP, which was launched two years ago. APP plans to develop canals and infrastructure on peatland has also been stopped. And the company has developed measures to assess its global supply chain to ensure that it never uses wood harvested from natural forests, or uses suppliers involved in land clearing. Aida Greenbury, APP sustainability managing director, says the evaluations will double the amount of conservation areas in APP concessions to 400,000ha. But the report highlights a serious problem with the APP’s attempts to stop forest clearing by third parties like local villagers, miners, illegal loggers, and neighbouring palm oil and forestry companies. The team of evaluators witnessed several areas, where more than 600ha and in some cases more than 1000ha of forest had been cleared by the villagers for mining or palm oil. Richard Donovan, Rainforest Alliance senior vice president for forestry, says this is the biggest problem for APP and while the company needs help from other parties, it ‘needs to step up and do all it can, and help its suppliers as well’.
Aida Greenbury, managing director of sustainability with APP
Greenbury argues the illegal forest clearing is an ‘endemic’ problem for all Indonesians, not just the APP. Greenbury says the request from NGOs for APP to ‘turned off its chainsaws and the forest would be safe’ was an oversimplification of the problem. “We want to be part of the solution but we can’t do it alone, the problem has its roots in poverty, criminality, and lack of governance and enforcement by authorities,” Greenbury says. The report also found that while APP supplier workers were well paid, many do not have written contracts, and are paid below minimum wage, spend long periods in the areas with no sanitation, clean water, or education for their children and do not have adequate safety equipment. Donovan says while at a corporate level, there is support for the policy, the biggest challenge facing APP is implementing policy on the ground. He says many building blocks essential for change, such as policies and standard operating procedures, training and outreach, are in place. “However, there is still work to be done in implementing some of those policies and procedures in the field. This is a gap APP must address.” Greenbury says the report highlights that APP’s efforts to achieve zero deforestation are on the right track. “We are pleased that the Rainforest Alliance has recognised the progress we are making. We must have the courage to continually improve as we learn lessons from implementation. The report has highlighted a number of areas which require additional focus,” she says.
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