One of the world’s largest manufacturers of pulp and paper in Indonesia has announced it will immediately stop logging in all natural forests. Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
Loss of forest habitat through pulp and paper logging and palm oil plantations has pushed endangered species such as the Sumatran tiger, rhinoceros, elephants and the orangutan closer to extinction.
Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) announced in Jakarta that it had completely eliminated deforestation under its new sustainable forest management policy.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific said the “good news” came after more than 40,000 Australians emailed Australian paper supplier Office Brands asking it to stop buying from APRIL because its paper was sourced from Indonesia’s old-growth rainforests.
APRIL, which is Indonesia’s second largest paper and pulp company, will now rely solely on plantations to provide the fibre for its pulp.
The announcement comes after rival Indonesian company Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) announced in 2013 it would cease logging in natural forests.
This followed a decade-long Greenpeace campaign that cost APP more than 130 corporate customers including Disney, Mattel and Hasbro.
Japanese paper mills had also begun to raise concerns.
APP and APRIL account for 80% of Indonesian pulp production and were the only large-scale producers who used rainforest fibre.
“This is a major step in our 15-year sustainability journey,” said APRIL group president Praveen Singhavi.
The chairman of APRIL Group’s stakeholder advisory group, Joe Lawson, said the next challenge would be to ensure the policy commitments were implemented on the ground.
Greenpeace has suspended its campaign to stop Australian businesses buying from APRIL. However, Greenpeace and conservation group WWF warned they would be watching closely to make sure the announcement led to real change on the ground.
Conservation group Rainforest Alliance, which was asked by APP to conduct the first independent assessment of its 2013 policy commitments, said in February that moderate progress had been made but there was more work to do.
It said APP had stopped cutting natural forest to establish new plantation areas and pulp mills in Indonesia were receiving only plantation fibres.
“The building blocks are in place but considerable additional work is required to fully meet the commitments in the natural forest, peatlands and plantations,” it said.
APRIL has also agreed to strengthen the management of peatlands, which store an estimated 60 billion tonnes of carbon in Indonesia, in order to reduce greenhouse emissions.
When peatlands are drained for plantations this carbon is released and the land is susceptible to the fires that have covered Singapore and Malaysia in toxic haze in recent years.
APRIL has committed to no new clearing or development on forested peatlands. However, WWF said the policy allowed development on degraded peatlands to continue based on recommendations from independent experts.
