In Indonesia, pressure seems to be increasing on the notorious paper maker APP over its approach to environmental sustainability
Among the forestry conglomerates operating in Indonesia, none is bigger Asia Pulp & Paper. Alleged by WWF to have caused the most loss of rainforest in Sumatra, since 2003 the family-owned company has always insisted it has the evidence to support its sustainability claims.
Rather than cut a deal with NGO campaigners, it has turned up the PR heat, hiring high-powered consultants – including UK politician Peter Mandelson, a former European commissioner – to promote its environmental credentials while seeking to discredit critics. But now with news of a pending civil lawsuit against APP to be filed by the Indonesian ministry of environment, that strategy may soon change.
The charges stem from a 2007 land-clearing case that was closed in late 2008 under pressure from officials with the national police. Of the 14 pulp and paper companies alleged to have conducted illegal logging in off-limits forest areas, 12 are linked to APP.
What investigators found were logs that were more than 10cm in diameter – some were as big as 90cm – which means they came from old trees in natural forests. According to local environmental groups, APP was in non-compliance with both the 1997 environmental law and 1999 forestry law that limit the industry to forest plantations.
But the case never had a chance to be proven in court. Then, as now, the ministry of forestry opposed the lawsuit, despite a thorough investigation carried out by the head of the Riau provincial police.
Fast forward five years to 2012 and NGO campaigners say the case is a harbinger of a changing Indonesian society now ready to act more forcefully to protect its natural habitat.
“More political space got created, both for the ministry of environment and for reformers within the forest and agricultural ministries,” says Lafcadio Cortesi of the Rainforest Action Network.
Andy Tait, a senior forestry campaigner for Greenpeace UK, is more cautious. “The cynic in me thinks that the good political connections of the companies will make this go away again,” Tait says, “but it is interesting that it keeps popping up.”
APP declined to comment on the lawsuit but did issue a statement announcing the suspension of natural forest clearance on its pulpwood plantations in Indonesia, effective 1 June.
Detail deficit
“We hope that our independent suppliers will agree to High Conservation Value Forest assessments in the very near future,” APP tells Ethical Corporation. “In some cases, change cannot occur overnight. Notwithstanding, APP will encourage all of our suppliers to join the HCVF process as soon as possible.”
But an APP press release is short on details and, for campaigners such as Cortesi, the statement smacks of greenwash.
“We haven’t seen evidence in the field that they have suspended harvesting of natural forests while they are conducting an HCVF assessment,” he says. “The burden of proof is on them to demonstrate suspended operations in natural forests while doing this audit.”