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Rainforest Alliance report sparks mixed reactions
The Rainforest Alliance on Thursday announced an independent evaluation of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP)âs Forest Conservation Policy (FCP), marking an immediate end to natural forest clearance by APPâs pulpwood suppliers as well as a range of other measures
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T
he Rainforest Alliance on Thursday announced an independent evaluation of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP)'s Forest Conservation Policy (FCP), marking an immediate end to natural forest clearance by APP's pulpwood suppliers as well as a range of other measures.
The evaluation report, which assesses the period between Feb. 5, 2013, and Aug. 15, 2014, provides a view of the company's progress toward meeting each of the FCP's four policy areas, as well as additional public statements relevant to the FCP.
However, the report has met with mixed reactions from green groups.
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia, APP fails to stop deforestation and illegal activities in its concession areas by other parties, even in locations already identified by the company as having high conservation value and carbon stocks.
'APP has halted its own forest clearing and embarked on a wide array of assessments in its concessions, but not much has changed on the ground,' WWF Indonesia forest commodity leader Aditya Bayunanda said on Thursday.
In a new forest conservation policy announced two years ago, APP pledged to halt forest clearing. However, its forests are still disappearing, he added.
Separately, Greenpeace Southeast Asia forest campaigner Zulfahmi said that the company was still on track to meet its commitments.
Zulfahmi said, however, that APP needed to intensify its efforts to address these challenges by making additional improvements in implementing its FCP commitments.
'Greenpeace expects APP to be completely transparent on how it is meeting these policy commitments,' he said.
Commenting on the report, APP's managing director of sustainability Aida Greenbury said that the company was pleased that the Rainforest Alliance had recognized the progress the company was making.
'We believe today's report shows that our efforts to achieve zero deforestation are on the right track. However, our FCP implementation measures are not carved in stone. We must have the courage to continually improve them as we learn lessons from implementation,' Aida said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post.
She also said that APP believed that an evaluation like this put a global spotlight on the issues currently at play in Indonesia's forests.
'Our hope is that this evaluation will raise awareness of forestry issues in Indonesia and prompt others, including government, NGOs and the private sector to collaborate more closely to help tackle the issues across the landscape,' she continued. (ebf/nfo)(+++)
