Asia Pulp & Paper Halts All Natural Forest Clearance
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Asia Pulp & Paper Group, Jakarta, Indonesia, this week announced an end to the clearing of natural forest across its entire supply chain in Indonesia, effective immediately. Beginning this past Friday (February 1), all of APP's suppliers suspended natural forest clearance while independent assessments take place to identify areas of high conservation value that will be protected through a long-term management program.
From February 1, High Carbon Stock (HCS) assessments undertaken by The Forest Trust (TFT) will identify all forested areas, enabling APP to ensure that future plantation development does not take place in forests. On Tuesday of this week (February 5), APP announced its new Forest Conservation Policy during the latest quarterly update of its ‘Vision 2020' Sustainability Roadmap that was published in June 2012.
Initially the APP Sustainability Roadmap set out a plan for APP to implement High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF) principles and end natural forest clearance across its entire supply chain by 2015. This week's announcement means that objective has been accelerated by almost two years.
APP has said that the HCVF and HCS policies will be applied immediately to any further expansion or development of its business. The Group has encouraged third parties to participate in a monitoring program that ensures these commitments are being implemented.
Teguh Ganda Wijaya, chairman of the APP Group, said that "this is a major commitment and investment from APP Group. We are doing this for the sustainability of our business and for the benefit of society. We hope our stakeholders will support our new policy, help us along the way, and urge other industry players to follow. APP is a world leader in the pulp and paper business, and we will act as leaders are expected to do."
Aida Greenbury, APP managing director for sustainability, noted that "APP has today committed to protect all natural forests across its supply chain as part of its plans to support the government of Indonesia's low carbon development strategy for our economy. Our new Forest Conservation Policy sets our company on course to be a leading world-class paper company solely based on sustainable plantation sources."
APP has also committed to expand its policies on social issues, particularly with respect to the "Free and Prior Informed Consent" of indigenous peoples and local communities where new developments are taking place.
The APP Group of companies is one of the world's largest vertically integrated pulp and paper companies, with an annual combined pulp, paper, and converting products capacity of more than 18 million metric tons. APP-Indonesia and APP-China currently market their products in more than 120 countries across six continents. The majority of APP's production facilities are Chain-of-Custody certified by SVLK, LEI, and PEFC.
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