Eleven social and environmental civil society groups and networks sent a joint letter to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) on 24 April 2013, explaining the substantial social and conservation issues APP has failed to address adequately in its Forest Conservation Policy and associated documents. On 5 February 2013, the Sinar Mas Group’s Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) published a new “Forest Conservation Policy” (FCP). Since then, SMG/APP organized several “focus group discussion” meetings with various Indonesian NGOs to socialize their policy and the “Standard Operational Procedures (SOP)” or Protocols it developed to implement it. Summarizing their responses to these meetings, the NGOs stated “considering how important and fundamental these issues are, we would like to ask APP to pay serious attention to these notes prior to enacting those protocols”.

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. Read more...

Financial institutions have been warned today to avoid investments in pulp and paper mills associated with deforestation and human rights abuses in Indonesia. Sixty environmental and social non-governmental organisations, including a dozen Indonesian civil society groups, have sent letters to banks and other financial institutions around the world asking for assurances that they will not invest in increased pulp milling capacity by Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) or other companies associated with the Sinar Mas Group until reforms have been achieved.

In 2001, APP was involved in what was then Asia’s biggest corporate debt default - US$13.9 billion. As part of a restructuring debt agreement it reached with its creditors, APP had the legally binding obligation to develop sustainable forestry operations and pulp and paper production. A recent report4 revealed that APP began clearing the forest just three years after signing this agreement, swallowing one-third of the forest that APP committed to protect. The letter is calling on governments not to fund a new pulp mill proposed by Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), one of the world's most controversial pulp and paper companies. Expanding APP’s production capacity further will inevitably lead to further deforestation, and to increased violations of the terms of its environmental covenants with ECAs.APP has historically been supported by European Export Credit Agencies2 (ECAs) and the letter requests that they end support for all business developments linked to deforestation in Indonesia and elsewhere. The letter is signed by more than 30 environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including all members of ECA-Watch, Greenpeace and WWF. It has been delivered to ECAs from Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain and France.

Several reports have documented the destructive environmental and social impacts of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), part of the Sinar Mas group, including its involvement in clearing rainforest in Indonesia for paper.Nonetheless in 2006 the EU Ecolabel was awarded to two brands of photocopy paper – Golden Plus and Lucky Boss – produced by the Indonesian company Pindo Deli, a subsidiary of APP.

NGOs have warned the European Commission they would have to advise their supporters, the public and companies to steer away from the EU Ecolabel for paper and timber products, unless the European Commission ensures (1) the awarding process of the EU Ecolabel becomes transparent – at least in line with existing forest certification procedures; and (2) the EU Ecolabel criteria are considerably strengthened.

Non-governmental organizations working in Riau Province, Sumatra, urge the Government to include 1.2 million hectares of remaining natural forest in Riau in the two-year moratorium on natural forest and peat conversion that is part of the US$ 1 billion Indonesia-Norway REDD Letter of Intent. 

Maps predicting the moratorium’s impact on Riau -- submitted by Eyes on the Forest to the REDD+ Task Force yesterday -- show that up to 1.2 million hectares, almost half of Riau’s remaining natural forest, is actually inside existing concessions where natural forest and peat conversion can continue, even with the moratorium in place. EoF coalition fears that the worst impact would be in the deep peat areas of Riau, where it would cause huge greenhouse gas emissions, largely undermining the president’s global commitment to reduce them.

Briefing Note for Customers and Investors on Indonesia’s Proposed Moratorium on New Permits for Forest and Peat Land Clearance. Private Sector Action Needed to Adopt Safeguards and Support Reforms Required to Address Deforestation and Emissions in Indonesia  

A forest named by international scientists as one of the top 20 priority landscapes globally for the survival of the tiger is being systematically targeted for pulp production by Asia Pulp & Paper/Sinar Mas Group (APP/SMG), one of the world’s largest paper suppliers. This is in breach of company’s claims that it doesn’t target high quality and high conservation value forest for clearing and that it’s carbon footprint is close to neutral.

40 European NGOs sent a letter to paper companies demanding to stop any eventual purchase of paper from the Indonesian-Chinese paper giant Asia Pulp and Paper (APP). APP and its fibre suppliers are estimated to be the single largest source of rainforest destruction in Sumatra and are pushing three highly endangered species - the Sumatran tiger, elephant and orang-utan - closer to extinction.

Doing business with APP at this time supports the further expansion of its operations into Indonesia’s last tropical forests and peatlands. The company is, in our view, the least responsible pulp and paper producer globally. Since it began operations in the 1980s, APP is estimated to have pulped more than 1 million hectares of natural forests in Sumatra. The company now has forestry operations in Kalimantan to fill wood supply gaps and is trying to enter Papua, Indonesia’s last forest frontier.

In 2009 Global Paper Giants APP and APRIL set out to pulp 5% of Riau’s remaining tropical rainforest erased identified High Conservation Value Forests deforested and drained legally protected deep peat cleared internationally recognized priority Sumatran tiger conservation forests.

This Eyes on the Forest report focuses on large scale deforestation by APP and APRIL against their own published sustainability policies and commitments to buyers, investors and the general public to protect High Conservation Value Forests, critical species habitats and the climate. Their actions challenge our President’s commitment to reduce the country’s carbon emissions. They undermine Indonesia’s commitment to ensure the survival of the critically endangered tiger.

35 Indonesian NGOs sent a letter to companies to ask them to reduce your company’s consumption and environmental footprint by establishing social and environmental safeguards on procurement and by helping to bring about crucial changes to the Indonesian pulp and paper industry’s practices as well as supporting related government policy reforms. The Indonesian NGOs request that investors adopt similar safeguards in relation to investments in Indonesia’s pulp and paper sector.

Indonesian NGOs take public stance on paper giant’s misleading marketing push and call for severing ties with company

Long a controversial company, APP has recently stepped up its public relations efforts with a series of infomercials touting its environmental and social accomplishments and misleading certification claims. These moves may be an effort to pave the way for the company’s anticipated issuing of bonds and a possible initial public offering (IPO) of its Chinese division, and comes at the same time as new investments in direct sales capacity in Europe and North American paper markets.

10 US  NGOs sent a letter to paper companies demanding to stop any eventual purchase of paper from the APP controlled Eagle Ridge Paper. APP and its fiber suppliers are the leaders in clearing and converting vast areas of rainforests in Sumatra and Borneo for pulp and paper. This is devastating biodiversity and ecological systems, and is violating the livelihoods and rights of indigenous communities. Moreover, the rapid depletion of Indonesia's natural rainforest is emitting massive amounts of greenhouse gasses as forests are destroyed and converted to biologically impoverished plantations. Because of emissions from this forest loss, analysts have listed Indonesia as the world's third largest producer of greenhouse gasses after China and the United States.

The undersigned environmental organizations are writing to inform you about some of the social and environmental concerns that we have about APP and about some of the risks that we believe result from doing business with APP and its U.S. arm Eagle Ridge.

Satellite data for the first six months of 2009 show that Riau Province had the largest number of fire “hotspots” in Indonesia: 4,782. And nearly one-quarter of the Riau fires happened within concessions affiliated with Sinar Mas Group’s Asia Pulp & Paper company, more than in any other single company’s concessions, an Eyes on the Forest analysis found.

On 7 August, APP placed a full page advertisement “APP’s Commitment. On 7 August, APP placed a full page advertisement “APP’s Commitment: Conservation beyond Compliance” in the New York and London Times5. On 15 August, APP published a “Stakeholder Update” distributed to hundreds of its customers. APP portrayed itself as a forest and wildlife protecting company. However, in reality, APP’s performance does not match its claims. APP refuses to commit to “conservation beyond compliance” and continues to destroy High Conservation Value Forests (HCVFs) and threatens the Sumatran tigers, elephants and other wildlife that rely on them. In this Monitoring Brief, WWF reveals some of the false statements in the APP advertisements and explains the links between APP operations and natural forest loss in the Province of Riau.

This background document provides an overview of the state of the forests in Sumatra's Riau province. It documents the province’s rapid rate of forest loss over the last two decades associated with the expansion of two industries – paper and palm oil. The report illustrates how Riau's pulp and paper industry, dominated by the two multi-national companies APP and APRIL, is the driving force behind this forest loss.

A consortium of “Kalimantan Forest Monitoring NGOs (RPHK)” in West Kalimantan lodged their protest over the Forest Conservation Policy (FCP) announced by Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) in February. RPHK members found two independent suppliers of APP in West Kalimantan, PT Asia Tani Persada (ATP) and PT Daya Tani Kalbar (DTK), to be still logging natural forest, clearing the land and digging deep peat canals after the 1 February, clearance moratorium date initiated by APP.