APP to develop forest conservation area
APP to develop forest conservation area
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
One of Indonesia's largest pulp and paper companies, Asia Pulp &
Paper Co. Ltd (APP), plans to convert about 76,000 hectares of
its timber forest into a conservation area.
The company is also completing a sustainability action plan,
which covers the development of conservation areas, community
development and the tracking of timber.
"We want to be able to have renewable raw material input into
our mills so that we can produce pulp and paper.
"We're also responding to the aspirations of our stakeholders
who want us to show how we're going to be a responsible
corporation and citizens," APP director of sustainability and
stakeholder engagement Arian Ardie told The Jakarta Post.
APP currently manages around 900,000 hectares of industrial
timber forest in the provinces of Riau and Jambi. The planned
conservation area is in addition to the company's existing
conservation areas.
The country's forestry law says that all owners of industrial
timber forests need to put aside 20 percent of their total area
for conservation and development of indigenous trees and
greenbelts.
Arian also said that APP would invest around US$7 million for
the conservation area, and around $50 million in total to
accomplish the plan, which is projected to be completed in five
years.
"This is probably the largest budget a private company has set
aside for conservation. It's also the first time for an
Indonesian company in the natural resources sector to have such a
commitment to sustainability," Arian said.
He added that the company would soon seek approval from the
government to convert part of its land into a conservation area,
given that the land was purchased from the government under
licenses for industrial timber forest.
Arian saw the decision to set aside this portion of their land
more as an investment rather than a loss.
"This (decision) will assure (the availability of) our raw
materials. Without doing that, there's a risk we won't have
enough input to continue making pulp and paper.
"It also enables us to continue to access the key markets
around the world. Markets are demanding sustainability, and they
want to know that the products they use come from well-managed
forest," said Arian.
Arian said that APP had two sets of action plans to help curb
illegal logging.
"We want to guarantee that we're not, by accident, taking in
illegal logs. We are also trying to gain control of our own
resources, and track the wood from the forest directly into the
mill.
"We're also going to establish some forest rangers and
security patrols in this area to make clear where the boundaries
are ... that this is a conservation area," he said.
Arian stated that the company's exports to countries such as
Japan, the European Union, Australia and the United States
reached over $2 billion last year.