Month: January 2014

1
    Civil Society Meets to Discuss Pulp Mill Financing Concerns
    MEDIA RELEASE
    For immediate release Tuesday 28 January 2014

    Representatives of twenty-eight civil society organisations from Europe, North America, Asia, Latin America and Australia have gathered in the Netherlands to discuss concerns about financial investment in pulp and paper developments. The meeting is organised by the European Environmental Paper Network, in partnership with BankTrack, and it includes participants from non-governmental organisations as well as some banks. It is the first meeting to take a fully global perspective on the financing of pulp and paper mills.

    The meeting is discussing lessons learned from past campaigns to stop irresponsible investment in pulp mills, including the campaign to stop a pulp in Tasmania, Australia, which is being re-triggered by new Tasmanian government legislation today.

    The meeting participants have agreed to issue a statement to the Government of Tasmania regarding the former Gunns pulp mill proposal, noting their dismay at the revival of the project and advising potential investors to be aware of the potential of environmental and social risks connected to the Gunns pulp mill project.

    Mandy Haggith, EEPN co-ordinator, said: ‘Participants in the meeting have had the chance to learn from experts in pulp mill investment and experienced campaigners about the opportunities for influencing financing decisions. We have also had discussions about how to identify mills that may threaten forests and agree joint strategies for future campaigns.’

    The European Environmental Paper Network has many member organisations who are engaging with investors and others in the financial world to ask them to make a positive influence in reducing the relevant impacts of paper industry developments, including their fibre sources and their human rights implications. Working together in a more co-ordinated manner, these organisations aim to stop irresponsible investment into unsustainable pulp and paper mill developments and to encourage investors to support only environmentally sound, socially beneficial and sustainable projects.

    The participants also considered pulp and paper mill developments around the world including Indonesia, Russia, China, Latin America and Africa, and the need to ensure future investors give backing only to developments that are not linked to social conflicts, forest degradation and deforestation.

    Notes for editors
    1. The European Environmental Paper Network (EEPN) is a coalition of 72 environmental and social NGOs in 25 countries that share a common vision for transforming the European paper industry to become ethical and sustainable. The Environmental Paper Network (EPN) is its sister network in North America, and the Chinese Environmental Paper Network its sister network in China.

    For more information, contact Mandy Haggith, EEPN co-ordinator, mobile: +44(0)7734 235704
    email: [email protected] of the aims of the European Environmental Paper Network is to stop irresponsible investment into unsustainable pulp and paper mill developments. We are keen to co-ordinate the work of our member organisations who are engaging with investors and others in the financial world to ensure that their decisions are well-informed and take into account all the relevant likely impacts of paper industry developments, from their fibre sources to their human rights implications. Our priority areas will include scrutinising investment into Indonesian pulp developments, and engaging with the Chinese financial sector.

    We are holding a meeting in the Netherlands in late January 2014 to discuss pulp finance campaign strategies. Around thirty activists, from Europe, America, Russia, China, Indonesia, Australia and Latin America will gather to share information on their campaigns. We will also have the chance to learn from experts in pulp mill investment about the opportunities for influencing decisions, which will help us to identify targets and agree joint strategies for future work.

Featured image of article: Cautious reactions to APRIL’s new commitment

0

Asia Pacific Resources International Ltd (APRIL) has released a new Sustainable Forest Management Policy (SFMP). The company will establish a moratorium on clearing in concessions where there has not been independent assessment of conservation values. APRIL also promised that it will complete plantation establishment by the end of 2014.

APRIL is one of the most controversial paper companies, having cleared tropical rain forests of Sumatra, violating local community’s rights, threatening endangered species such as Sumatran Tiger, and releasing huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere by converting peatlands into pulpwood plantations.

WWF cautiously welcomed the announcement, noting that the policy still “allows for APRIL to utilize wood from tropical forests in its mill until the end of 2019.” WWF is urging APRIL to stop using fibre from natural forests by 2014.

Woro, of Jikalahari, the environmental network of Riau, Indonesia, expressed more skepticism: “There is strong evidence that APRIL broke its own previous commitment regarding sustainable forest management. In the past this company announced an HCVF assessment in the Kampar Peninsula, but afterwards APRIL continued to convert these forests. Until now, APRIL has been involved in forest crimes and unsustainable forest practices, and we don’t have good reason to look at this new policy as a promising development.”

Lafcadio Cortesi, of Rainforest Action Network, responded to the policy by saying, “This new commitment is a missed opportunity which raises as many questions as it answers. The policy is limited in scope and has large loopholes and major gaps. It sends a clear signal to customers, investors as well as the companies colleagues in the World Business Council on Sustainable Development that APRIL and all of Sukanto Tanoto’s holdings should remain no go, no buy.”

Zulfahmi of Greenpeace Southeast Asia states that, “APRIL’s carefully orchestrated policy announcement is essentially a licensce to continue forest clearance. A glaring weakness is that it would allow its current suppliers to continue to destroy forest and peatlands for nearly a year, and give it another six more years until it would stop using rainforest fibre at its mill.”

“Before being accepted as a non controversial business partner, APRIL should also take its responsibility for the precious habitat destroyed in the past years, and commit to restore devastated habitats and return land to local communities” concluded Sergio Baffoni, of the European Environmental Paper Network. “Our member NGOs advise companies to continue avoiding any business with this company until a credible policy is adopted and implemented on the ground.”

0

denkhauslogoclaim3
 We would like to give a warm welcome to a new German NGO, denkhausbremen, which has joined our network. We’re very fortunate to have one of its founders, Peter Gerhardt, on our steering group. Peter was formerly with Robin Wood, and has years of experience as a valiant warrior in defence of forests and forest peoples. We wish the new organisation, and all our other member organisations, all the best for 2014.