Month: February 2013

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We’re very proud to be able to say that Sergio Baffoni, our Indonesian forests campaign co-ordinator, has been nominated to the UN as a Forest Hero. An excerpt of the nomination follows.

Sergio has developed a highly effective approach to help many of the EEPN’s member organisations to work together to protect Indonesian forests and communities and to educate European markets and investors about the risks associated with paper from Indonesia. He deserves considerable credit in having help to build the pressure that has stimulated the recent announcement by Asia Pulp and Paper, Indonesia’s biggest paper company, that they will cease to source wood from natural forests in Indonesia.

Sergio has also ensured a constant and high quality flow of information from Indonesian organisations and among the European network. He has created and maintained a comprehensive online library of reports, correspondence and other information at http://environmentalpaper.eu/indonesia/ and he has kept a growing list of interested activists informed by email. He produces useful campaign tools and briefings which enable people to take positive action to help protect Indonesian rainforests, whatever level of resources they can offer.

Sergio has taken a novel approach to delivering a joint campaign on Indonesian rainforests. He has acted as a facilitator rather than a campaign manager. He encourages bottom-up, grassroots driven campaigning , allowing joint strategies to emerge and encouraging collective effort, without attempting to impose any kind of centralised control. The result of this is trust among a wide network of activists, and a broad range of authentic responses to the destruction of Indonesian rainforest destruction, which combine to make a bigger impact in encouraging the paper industry to work towards greater sustainability.

Sergio has shown that a bottom-up approach really works in helping people to work together to protect biodiversity and stand up for human rights. He has demonstrated that civil society’s diversity is a strength and that we do not need to speak with one voice in order to be heard. He has shown, rather, that there is harmony among our many voices.

Whether or not Sergio is chosen by the UN, he is without doubt a hero to many within our network. Thanks Sergio.

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The European Environmental Paper Network is frequently asked what we think about recycled paper, so the steering group has issued a statement making clear that our commitment in our vision remains firm, and efforts must continue to reduce reliance on fresh tree fibres. Europe has a good record on paper recycling, and achieving a 70% recycling rate is something to be proud of, but we believe we can and must do even better.

You can read the statement here: EEPN recycled paper position statement 2013

Featured image of article: 2012 Annual Report

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The European Environmental Paper Network had a good year in 2012, and better is to come, as the 2012 Annual Report makes clear.

It summarises our priority work co-ordinating campaigning to protect the Indonesian rainforests and their communities from the ravages of the paper industry. It also introduces our work to reduce paper consumption. It includes a fully transparent statement of our meagre finances and we hope you’ll agree that we are making a significant impact and achieving a lot with very limited resources.

Thanks must go to all our members, old and new, for the hard work you contribute to the network, and particularly to our steering group.

The EEPN 2012 Annual Report is here: EEPN 2012 annual report Please don’t print it!

 

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After years of campaigning by Indonesian and international environmental and social non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the largest paper company in Asia, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) has announced a new Forest Conservation Policy which – among other commitments – extends an immediate moratorium on logging in natural forests to all its suppliers.

The controversial paper company was blamed for causing the destruction of up to two million hectares of rainforests in Sumatra, threatening the last habitat of the Sumatran tiger, displacing local communities and causing conflicts and fatalities, and releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gases by converting peatland forests into plantations.

Sergio Baffoni of the European Environmental Paper Network (EEPN) said, “It is great to see that the joint effort of many NGOs in Indonesia, Europe and elsewhere, has finally opened the way for a solution. It is difficult to say now if this announcement will really bring about a solution; only its implementation in the field will prove that. Meanwhile we advise companies to keep avoiding any business with APP.’

“Unfortunately, APP has a long history of making commitments to WWF, customers and other stakeholders that it has failed to live up to. We hope this time the company does what it promised.” commented Nazir Foead of WWF Indonesia.

“APP will not be seen as a responsible company in the marketplace until its new commitments are implemented and resolve the devastating rainforest and human rights crises it has caused in Indonesia.” added Lafcadio Cortesi, of Rainforest Action Network.

Even Greenpeace, which negotiated with APP, and hailed the announcement as a major breakthrough in protection for Indonesia’s remaining rain forests, still seems to be cautious: “It’s what happens in the forest that counts and we will be monitoring progress closely, ” said Bustar Maitar, of Geenpeace Indonesia.

APP has also committed to work with indigenous communities to protect their traditional lands, to ensure that all affected communities give Fully and Prior Informed Consent to changes in land use and that the legacy of social conflicts are resolved. It has also agreed to protect forested peatland.

APP, which is part of the Sinar Mas conglomerate, is now the third-largest and pulp and paper company in the world, a position achieved by clear-cutting precious Indonesian rainforests. By declaring that it now has sufficient plantation areas to meet the long term demand for their own pulp mills, it admits it has now cleared all the land it needs for plantations. The company has clearly recognised that its bad reputation is an obstacle to expansion of the market for its products and to finding investors for new projects, and this has led to the new forest policy.

There is however a further risk in this process: if the new policy will gain APP access to markets and investors, this will result in a further increase in demand for productivity. The company is already seeking investors to build new mills, including a new pulp mill in South Sumatra with a productivity of two millions tons of pulp per year, which would make it the biggest production line in the world. Sergio Baffoni said, “Ironically, if the new APP forest policy sends a positive message to investors and the mill goes ahead, this could represent the major threat to the policy’s implementation, by increasing its need for wood fibers, and thus tempting APP to breach its own commitments.” More than 60 NGOs recently wrote an open letter to investors warning of the risks of investment in this new mill.

For more information contact:
Sergio Baffoni on +49 1623812528 or [email protected]

Notes for editors:
1. The European Environmental Paper Network (EEPN) is a coalition of 69 environmental and social NGOs from 24 countries that share a common vision for transforming the European paper industry to become ethical and sustainable.
2. For more information on paper industry threats to Indonesian rainforests see http://environmentalpaper.eu/indonesia